IT’S OBVIOUSLY OBVIOUS

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine they lay down for the night, and went to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.” Watson replied, “I see millions and millions of stars.” “What does that tell you?” Holmes asked.

Watson pondered for a minute. “Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow… Why, what does it tell you?”

Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke. “Watson, you idiot! It shows me… someone has stolen our tent!” Sometimes even very intelligent people can miss the obvious truth that’s right in front of them. Take for instance, the truth that Paul lays out in I Timothy 5:24,25 when he writes, “The sins of some are obvious… In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.” In time, the good deeds of people are going to come to the surface displaying their character. Now, I know there are exceptions to this: Sometimes people that are evil down deep can surprise us and do good things. And sometimes those who are good and godly people can mess up and do truly bad things. But, in general, we can look at what people do- especially on a consistent basis over time- and determine whether they are genuinely people of faith or not.

In speaking of true and false prophets in Matthew 7, Jesus said, “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit… Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” I think that means we need to be accurate “fruit inspectors” looking at the lives being lived by those around us- plus taking a good, hard look at the fruit in our own lives. But we then need to recognize the deeper source of people’s fruit, be it good or bad produce. In Galatians 5, Paul speaks of those that are driven by their sinful nature. For them “the acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Obviously, those are sinful so we mustn’t make excuses or lower our standards. But for the sincere believer, they are producing fruit in keeping with God’s work within us. For them, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” No Christian ever bears that fruit perfectly, but those godly attributes should typically be setting us apart from the world.

As simplistic as it may seem, in an oftentimes ungodly culture, believers must stand out as distinctly different as we strive to live good lives. True believers must settle for nothing less- so says “Captain Obvious”.

In His Service, Jim