““What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21:28-32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I love peanut butter! I especially love chocolate and peanut butter together! A few summers ago, our family was vacationing in Washington, DC. As you may know, touring in Washington involves much walking. One particular day as we walked from one end of the National Mall to the other, we happened upon an ice cream truck. Since it was July, we were hot and we were excited at the thought of a cool ice cream treat. Imagine my delight when the side of the truck, pictured above, had a Reece’s peanut butter cup sundae as an option. Of course that’s what I ordered. Now imagine my disappointment when I was handed the cup of ice cream in today’s second picture. There were no Reece’s peanut butter cups! My cup simply had ice cream with peanut butter smeared on the side and chocolate drizzled on top. That is definitely false advertisement and not what the truck image portrayed!

I am calling today “Walk the Walk Wednesday”. I want each of us to examine the image we are portraying to the world.

Are you walking the walk you claim as a Christian? Are you talking the talk God instructs? Does your walk match your talk? Are you presenting one image, but not following through?

When we say one thing about Christ, but do another, we are being hypocrites. When we portray the Christian life as God instructs us but we don’t walk the walk, we are not being an accurate example of a Christian and we are not growing the kingdom of God.

My prayer for each of us today is that we all “repent and believe him.” May we each walk the walk and talk the talk of Christianity. May each of us not only be the image of Christ, but also be Christ to the world.

***On a side note, the ice cream was terrible and it ended up being thrown away not long after it was purchased . What a disappointment! Even today our family continues to get a good laugh out of my Reece’s ice cream sundae debacle.