When Your Sign Falls Apart

Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it.

—2 Corinthians 13:5a 

My mouth flew open and I stopped the car and stared. What on earth?

Right there before my eyes was the wreckage of my former house number sign. I got out the car to examine the mess. A closer inspection revealed that the nails had popped out of place, causing the boards to collapse. Apparently, changes in the weather and exposure to the elements had caused the wooden boards to swell. Over time, the swelling pushed out the nails.

Now what? I’m not handy with tools, but I know the sign must be repaired—for the same reason it was installed. A number of years ago all residents of our rural county were ordered to post house numbers, mainly for location identification purposes for first-responders to a 9-1-1 call. Even though responders can now rely on GPS, having a sign for location confirmation is still helpful.

I stood there gaping at the remains and wondered how I never noticed the boards were pulling away. Perhaps if I had taken the time to inspect it regularly…

But the truth is I am not so good at preventive maintenance. Take my car, for instance. I don’t fuss over tires till I get a flat. And I don’t remember to add oil till the light comes on. (I know all you guys out there are cringing!) And the reason I mention these two things is because both of these just happened and left me sidelined, scratching my head trying to come up with a solution.

I could have avoided the downtime if I had only done some preventive maintenance—like routine check-ups on my tire tread to notice where it was wearing thin and pulling out the dipstick to check the level of my oil. And I could have avoided the wreckage now decorating the end of my driveway if I had done regular inspections and maintenance, for surely the collapse was a gradual process. Little by little, the nails were pushed out.

The same is true for our spiritual lives. The bible says, “Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it” (2 Corinthians 13:5a).

Regular inspections of our heart will reveal sin and the level of our faith.

Although I cannot take credit for it, I often refer to the saying that we can choose to become better or bitter over the circumstances of life. The difference between those two words, better and bitter, is one letter—the letter i. I must make that decision. Will I allow the seasons and storms of life to make me better or bitter? If I swell up in anger or in pride and resentment, I have chosen the latter. And swelling up pushes out the nails that hold our sign together.

We all wear a sign whether we realize it or not.  Our actions are a signal to others of the condition of our heart.

Jesus said, “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions” (Matthew 7:16-20).

When we choose to hold onto our faith throughout the storms of life, allowing it to make us “better,” stronger in Christ, we will show forth proper fruits—the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And these are the fruits that draw others to Christ.

When we forsake our faith, our sign falls apart. And we may find ourselves cleaning up the wreckage.

What do you choose when storms come your way? How do you respond when exposed to the elements of the world? What does your sign show?

My sign hasn’t always shown forth the proper fruits. But I now choose to hold onto to my faith so my sign will stay intact. Just like the purpose of my house number sign, may my spiritual sign show others where to go in an emergency.

I remember the song We are One in the Spirit, which I learned to play on the guitar when I was 12 years old. Its lyrics are based on Jesus’ words to His disciples, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

It goes like this:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love

By our love

Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love 

I want them to know it. I want my sign to show it. Love, the first of the fruits of the Spirit. May I show the love of Christ to others.

Dear Jesus, thank You for Your extreme love that held You to the cross for my sins. May I choose a life of faith to hold me together throughout the storms of life. And may Your Holy Spirit guide me to regular heart-examinations to repent of sin, so that my sign will stand sturdy, showing forth fruit that directs others to You. Amen.

When you hold onto your faith, your faith holds you together.