A pocketful of clues.

That’s what I got out of Jill’s jacket.  Several months ago when I was in need of a jacket, I searched for what was available in our front hall closet.  Even though Jill no longer lives here, there is still a montage of jackets left behind.  As I tried on one possible pick from the selection, I reached into the pockets and found all kinds of stuff.  Here’s what I learned from the left-behind pocket treasure:

A candy cane!  That tells me it was near Christmas time when Jill last wore this particular jacket.  Jill loves candy canes and will often grab one on her way out the door to stuff in her pocket to munch later.

A candy cane wrapper!  Okay – she took two and had eaten one already.

Ninety-five cents!  She had purchased something in haste, probably not costing very much, and had dropped the change in her pocket.  (Why couldn’t I have found a $20?)

A Kohl’s 20% off coupon!  Ah-ha she must have been Christmas shopping.

Hot Buttered Rum Lip Balm!  All I can say is Jill has this thing about weird flavors and this lip balm smelled nasty to me!  But it tells me she must ‘dress’ her lips for the season!

I’ve been reading through first Corinthians recently.  In chapter five today I read how Paul instructed the Corinthians to:  “not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister [in Christ] but (who also) is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.”

Wow.

I like to read from the NIV version of the bible and mine happens to be a Concordia Self-study Bible that offers lots of footnotes and cross-references to help you understand what you are reading.  The footnote explanation for this is better than how I could explain it:

“Calling oneself a Christian while continuing to live an immoral life is reprehensible and degrading and gives a false testimony to Christ.  If the true Christian has intimate association with someone who does this, the non-Christian world may assume that the church approves such immoral, ungodly living and thus the name of Christ would be dishonored.  Questions could arise concerning the true character of the Christians own testimony.”

Lesson learned folks!  What we do, where we go, who we hang with, and even what’s in our pockets can tell others a lot about ourselves.  It is also disrespectful to God.  If you claim to be a follower of Christ, are you living like one?

Better go check your pockets!

just Laurel