Simply Sincere
'For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.' 2 Corinthians 1:12 ESV
My husband and I found ourselves in the emergency room several days into our long-awaited summer vacation. It had been five days since my husband noticed a sore on his leg, he cleaned it out and did his best to take care of the sore, but it quickly evolved into a severe bacterial infection. Had we not sought medical attention, the infection could’ve caused permanent damage to his joints or even worse traveled through his circulatory system causing life threatening sepsis.
Four days before leaving for a vacation we planned a year in advance, my husband, Joe, was installing a small sprinkler system. The weeds were quite tall in some places, but he still managed to get it installed prior to our departure. The next day at work he noticed his leg was sore. When he got home, he inspected his leg to see what was causing it to hurt, that’s when he noticed a small wound. He proceeded to wash it out and examine the wound. His first thought was he somehow got a cactus needle in his leg so naturally he tried to dig it out.
The following day, 2 days before our departure, his leg felt worse. He once again began to clean it out to see if he could find the notorious cactus needle. I went to check on him and was surprised by what I saw. It looked like a small puncture wound with dead tissue surrounded by redness, clearly a small infection. The more I looked at it the more I knew this wasn’t caused by a cactus. “It looks like a brown recluse bite.” I stated as I began to google brown recluse spider bites. Sure enough, the pictures I saw looked just like the one on his leg. We were relieved to read that self-care, cleaning the wound, and applying antibiotic cream, was all we needed to do.
Day 2 into vacation, five days after the incident occurred, my husband was in great pain. His leg was swollen from his knee all the way to his foot and the redness around the wound had gotten much larger.
We knew the infection had gotten way out of hand. It was late on a holiday weekend, so the emergency care centers were closed. Our only option was the hospital’s ER.
Luckily, we found a hospital about 20 minutes away in a small town and praise the Lord it wasn’t busy! Although it was late, inconvenient and Joe was in a lot of pain, our interaction with the outstanding hospital staff was uplifting, joyous and at times comical.
Wouldn’t you know that in my
husband’s suffering, and him simply being…well himself, the nursing staff was positively
impacted by the testament of the Lord’s love, peace, and joy. Let me explain
how.
It all happened while the RN was completing the questionnaire, you know that exhausting and probing list of mandatory questions.
RN: “Do you feel safe at home”
Joe: “Yes” (As his wife (me) was
sitting in the room with him) we joked a little about that.
RN: “Are you feeling lonely
or depressed?”
Joe: “No”
RN “Are you taking any
medications?”
Joe: “No medications, I’m a
pretty healthy guy.”
RN: “That’s great!”
Joe began to answer the next series of questions before the RN could ask.
Joe: “No tobacco, drugs or alcohol.”
There was a moment of silence as the RN looked at Joe in disbelief. Her mouth opened in shock, then she smiled. It seemed like she stood there forever smiling and staring at him while her eyes said, “Surely he is kidding!”, but it was only seconds.
RN: “Really?” she replied thinking he was joking around.
Joe: “Yes. I’m a Christian so
I don’t drink, smoke, or take drugs. I’m just a happy guy.”
RN: “Well I just thought,
since you were so happy, that maybe you had taken something.”
Me: “What you see is
simply the joy of the Lord.”
RN: “Oh…ok.”
The RN continued to stare for a moment; she was stunned but intrigued. She mentioned how most people who come in ‘happy’ have either been drinking or were on some type of drug.
As she turned her attention back to the computer you could tell she was processing what she just witnessed, simplistic and sincere Christian behavior (love, peace, and joy) in an environment that normally housed pain, suffering, sickness, hopelessness, trauma, and death. God was given the glory even during a crisis.
Time after time we’ve been taught that our lives are meant to be a testimony for Christ, but do we understand how easy it really is? It’s as simple as living life with Godly sincerity. When someone has an honest, repentant, and dedicated relationship with Christ they naturally exhibit the characteristics of God – love, peace, joy, mercy, grace, wisdom, truth, justice, freedom, and patience just to name a few. True Christianity means we are set apart from the world (we don’t do as the world does), we are a light in darkness, a house set upon a hill, and the salt of the earth.
It’s simply being and living for the Lord, just as God created us to do. You can’t help to have a smile on your face and a bounce in your step when Christ is in your heart. This joyful living is more impactful than speaking about the trials we’ve overcame, or how fortunate the Lord has been to us (although we should never stop talking about the wonders God has done).
Our simplistic and sincere behavior, words and attitudes while living in this darken world speaks volumes to those who don’t know Christ. You could plant an orchard with seeds of peace, love, and joy wherever you go when you abide in the Lord. Trials will come and go, the unexpected will happen but that doesn’t mean that Godly characteristics should become reclusive (hidden, shut off) in our life.
Sincerely living for Christ doesn’t grant immunity to suffering, sorrow, loss, sickness, or trials but it does provide us with faith, hope, strength, wisdom, courage, peace, love, and an inner joy that’s unexplainable to the world. No matter what awaits, put your trust in the Lord, seek wisdom in His word and pray for His mercy, love, peace, and joy. Who knows, the people you encounter during such trials could be a divine appointment from the Lord. A Christ-like life, behavior and attitude is an inclusive (embracing, including all people) testament of the Glory of God.
Sheri Caruso is an Author, Public Speaker and Women's Ministry leader. She is the author of Sackcloth and Ashes of the Heart and People of Presence Faith and Purpose. Both books are available on Amazon.com.
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