Gullible or Convincing?

I have wondered for years if I am gullible or if my daddy is just really convincing. He has the best stories. I love to hear them over and over again, however I do not recommend numbering them and yelling out that number and then laughing when he starts telling one. My brother and I thought this would be funny, it didn't go over so well. It was weeks before we heard another story. Today I want to share two of my favorite stories with you. As I tell these stories ask yourself if they are true or false. Gullible or Convincing?

Story 1:

"Christmas is a happy time for most people, but for me it brings back some sad memories. You see we didn't have much money when I was a boy and on Christmas my older brother would dress up like Santa Claus and come over with a sack full of presents. This one particular Christmas we waited and waited and he never showed up. I went to bed sad and disappointed. Days went by and we never heard from my brother. Then one day we started to smell something and we called fire department because the smell was coming from our chimney and we found someone stuck there. It was my dead brother dressed in a Santa suit with a bag full of toys. He had tried to surprise us and got stuck. Christmas has never been the same since."

Now, my Daddy actually stood before a room of about 75 people and told this story with a straight face and a sad voice to boot. We were at a staff Christmas party sharing about our favorite Christmas memories and this "just came to him." (Straight from his memory of the movie "Gremlins.") People were crying all over the building. I had to put my head down to keep a straight face which only added to the drama. (His own daughter was so upset she couldn't even listen.) Gullible crowd or Convincing Storyteller??

Story 2:

"I had a pet when I was little. I had asked my daddy for a dog and he said we would talk about it if I could show I was responsible. So he gave me a pet rooster. I use to walk him around all over town on a leash. People use to say...'There goes Ronnie and his pet rooster.' I loved that rooster. Oneday when I came home from school he was gone. I looked all over for that rooster. 'Here boy?' Later that night I sat down to the dinner table disappointed, but excited to find a plate of fried chicken. Since we were poor, we didn't have meat that often. I looked for weeks for that old rooster. Years later I found out what happened to him. He was the dinner offering that night."

My dad told Matt and I this story when we were dating. It was about 5 years after we were married, Matt said something about Daddy's pet rooster to which he replied..."What pet rooster? You mean ya'll believed that story? I stole that from Kramer on Seinfeld.  But I did have some rabbits that happened to." Gullible or Convincing??

 I love that my daddy has this wonderful imagination. His grandchildren love his stories. (Did you know he was shot through the stomach by an Indian's arrow and that's why he has an inny belly button? He also knows the art of killing a man with one swoop to the neck, but would never actually do so. Papa is awesome!) Everyone loves to hear one of Papa Ronnie's strories. He is convincing and yes I might be a little bit gullible and so are many others. What kind of a world would it be if we didn't believe anything that was said to us? (I guess pretty close to the one we have now.) What it makes me aware of and what I pray for myself and my children is this...Matthew 10:16 "Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."  I also pray that my children will have discernment for the things of God. You see the devil is convincing and he delights in finding gullible people to believe His lies. Romans 1:25 "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised." Sound familiar in the world we live in today.  We are a gullible people who have believed the convincing lie that the created things are more important than the creator. It shows in our lifestyle, our giving, our serving and our busyness. We do not live in light of eternity. We as a whole live for today. We are caught in 'the cult of the next thing.' We seek to gratify the flesh. I want my life to be a convincing testimony to this world that I am not at home here. My home is Heaven and I am preparing for that home and storing up treasures for eternity.  I pray this for my children. I pray that my children will worship the Creator above all else. Don't get me wrong...I love my Daddy's stories and I love a good flowery story for the purpose of entertainment, but we as a church have become too easily entertained by this world and as a result we have become gullible. I want to be wise about the things of God. May we become a convincing people as we hold high the Word of truth in our words, our actions and our attitudes.