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Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net Dan McMillan: Parables from the Paint Counter Let Your “Sheen” Shine Puzzled looks are common at the paint counter. Whenever a customer comes and asks me to mix a can of paint for them, one of the questions I ask is, “What sheen would you like?” Quite often I see this blank expression cross their face. When I then say, “Would you like your paint in flat, egg shell, satin, semi-gloss, or high gloss?” you would think I spoke to them in Chinese. The customer’s eyes beg for help. I then take a few minutes to explain that all of our paints come in various sheens. Each sheen has a purpose. For example, if you have a wall that has a lot of patched nail holes and has had obvious repair work done to it, you would want to paint that wall with a flat paint because flat paint does the best to hide the defects in the wall. If you have a bathroom or kitchen where there might be condensation or spattered grease and grime, you would most often choose a semi-gloss due to its extra protective components, its washability, and its bright reflective qualities. If you were to put that same semi-gloss paint on a living room wall that is full of repaired nail holes, and then invite your friends over, I dare say your time together would be spent counting shiny nail patches all evening long. That makes me think about my life. I want to have a high gloss life. I really do want my life to shine for Jesus! But I also realize that the more my life shines, the easier it becomes for others to pick out the obvious flaws and irregularities in my life. That’s why daily I have to ask Christ to shine through me. My other choice, which is tempting, would be to simply hide and conceal my defects, flaws, and irregularities that are there. I remember Jesus saying, “Let your light shine before men so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father Who is in Heaven.” I’m praying for a life like that. How about you? And that’s another parable from the paint counter. |
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