Discount Store Christians

Luke 11:39  Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness!

Virginia college sophomore Danny Foley noticed that all of Virginia’s assistant coaches wore the same suit with a bright orange tie. So before Virginia’s conference championship game against Duke on March 16, 2014, he and his friends went searching for some cheap knockoffs. He found everything he needed at Walmart – a suit jacket, suit pants, dress shoes, dress socks, a white dress shirt, and the orange tie.

The next morning, he bought $30 nosebleed tickets just to get in the door and headed to the game. During a TV timeout, Danny made a move, confidently marching past an usher and onto the court. Danny said, “I walked right behind the cheerleaders and onto the court and joined the [team’s] huddle on the court.”

Following his team’s big win, he went for an even bigger thrill. When the game’s final buzzer sounded with Virginia defeating Duke 72-63, Danny joined his “teammates” in the handshake line. Photos from the end of the game show Danny wearing a championship t-shirt over his suit and smiling in the middle of the confetti-covered arena.

He looked right, he dressed right, he was in the right place, but he was a fraud. He wasn’t part of the team; he was an imposter. He was a discount store coach, not a real one.

I see so many people saying that they are Christians then living lives that show exactly the opposite. They are discount store Christians. They look the part, they dress right, they carry a 25-pound family Bible, and wear a cross made out of railroad spikes. They are in church every Sunday, but their lives are not changed. They lie, cheat, and steal throughout the week, then show up on Sunday and act holy. Don’t get me wrong, they need to be in church, they just need to get real about why they are there.

Did you buy your Christianity at a discount store, or are you living the real thing?

Today’s Readings: Zechariah 1-3; Luke 11

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