"If you want to work here, close," or "bear good fruit"

The following is a repost of a bit I wrote on Facebook a while back, I thought it was still worthwhile so keeping here

Today, I had the distinct pleasure of reading an article that, for me anyway, was probably the best kick in the pants Bible study I've had in a while. It may surprise you to learn that this article was on Cracked.com.

Now, for those of you who don't waste a great deal of time on the internet, Cracked is NOT a "religious" or "inspirational" website. It is certainly not a "Christian" website. Before posting a link to said article, I would like to first warn you that it is not exactly "family friendly" language.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

Now here's the deal if you don't want to read the article. The primary point is, you want to be a great person? Do something about it. The article doesn't necessarily tell you WHAT to do, just that you should DO something. If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be a singer, sing. Don't wait for your Big Chance, GO-do whatever it is you are meant to truly DO.

Action speaks louder than words. Demonstrably so.

Why does this seem a revelation? Because, as much as I might hate to admit it, I HATE to take action. My preferred evening involves a pipe, bourbon, and netflix. I can waste literally HOURS on the good ol' internet. My biggest accomplishment this week, depending on your point of view, was either processing paperwork at my job, washing a load of dishes, seeing "The Hobbit," or building a third house in Skyrim. It is so much easier to say that I'm a "good man" or a "hard worker," but until I actually take an action, those things are meaningless. I can claim to Love, but if I only have a string of shallow relationships, wherein I never truly devote myself to another person, placing their needs above mine, my claim means nothing. I can claim to be a "good Christian," but as long as my acts to serve others are limited to simply saying, "I'll pray for you," I've failed completely.

And see, that's the key. What you DO is what matters. No one cares how nice you are, no one cares how good thinking you are, or how much you "care," they care about what you DO. Do you CLOSE, do you make things happen. Do you get your fingernails caked with dirt, and your feet calloused by asphalt, otherwise, you haven't even begun.

To echo scripture as clumsily as I possibly can, you can say in your heart that you Believe in God, but unless that belief comes out in action, it is simply the fallow soil that your infertile seeds have been tossed upon.

I'd like to say this is a Catalyst. That from this moment forward, my life will be different, that I will delete my Netflix account, stop playing video games, and devote all of my free time to feeding poor children and building houses, but I won't lie. I have “Mighty Wind” playing on the TV right now, and I'll probably be playing some Skyrim later this week, but all I can say is, I'll do SOMETHING, or at the very least, I'll try.

And let's face it, some days, that's all we really can do.