A Final Word About Authentic Christian Faith

A Final Word about Authentic Christian Faith

Topic: Authentic Christian Faith

A signature is very important!

Words in and of themselves are cheap.

You can go to the bank and talk with them about the idea of refinancing your home. They will give you all the specifics. But the deal is not final until you sign on the dotted line.

The same is true in terms of marriage. You can date, have romantic moments and talk about a life together. But the moment of reality is when you go to the county clerk's office to sign the wedding license, putting both of your signatures on it, and then publicly taking the vows before witnesses that you have pledged yourselves to each other.

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One of my friends, Dr. Jerry Tankersley, pastor of the Laguna Presbyterian Church, when preaching on today's text some years ago, described graphically to his congregation how he and his wife felt the day they walked into the judge's chamber to sign the adoption papers for their son. All that counted for him on that day was the commitment that he was making to that little baby who had come into their family at two and one-half months of age. He writes:

The signature that I wrote on that document said it all. We were beginning our life as parents. I have never signed my signature on anything, from a check to a letter, that I have not been reminded that, in some sense, I was saying what counted, what mattered to me.

That's precisely what Paul is doing as he concludes his letter to the church in Galatia.

He writes, "See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!" (Galatians 6:11).

Paul's method of writing letters was usually that of dictation to a scribe. Then he added his signature. However, in this letter, he does more than that. From at least verse 11 on, he wrote in his own hand.

He makes reference to the large letters of his handwriting. Scholars are not certain why he makes that reference. Some believe it is because of the importance of this paragraph. He writes in large letters as if to emphasize in heavy type what he had to say. It may have been written large because Paul was not used to wielding a pen. Therefore, his penmanship was bulkier than that of the trained scribe, gifted in calligraphy. Or it may very well be that Paul's eyes were weak or that he had a blinding headache and all he could do was produce large, sprawling handwriting, a man who could barely see.

You and I take for granted the wonderful invention of eyeglasses. Imagine how most of us in this room would function if we did not have such a blessing. The reality is that most of us at about the age of 40 have a biological problem. The crystalline lens of the human eye hardens, producing a condition similar to far-sightedness. The eye can no longer focus on close objects. David S. Landes, in his book titled The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, describes the dilemma middle-aged people all through human history faced until the invention of eyeglasses, apparently in Italy during the latter part of the Middle Ages. His research leads him to believe that the first magnifying glasses, improved to reduce distortion and connect a pair into a wearable device, leaving the hands free, apparently first appeared in Pisa toward the end of the thirteenth century. And, in the middle of the fifteenth century in Italy, particularly in Florence and Venice, thousands of spectacles were fitted with concave as well as convex lenses, myopes as well as presbyopes. This revolutionized the life of all persons to whom these spectacles were available, especially intellectuals and craftspersons.