John Mulligan’s lesson on Sunday was “Places: Four settings that reveal as well as define.” These are the places where our natural self can be seen. James 2:1-5 asks us, if two people come into our church, one well dressed and one shabby, will we direct the shabby one to a seat at the back and give attention to the person in fine clothes? Those would be the actions of our natural self. John gave us 4 specific places to be aware of our natural selves.

The Car: The car is an insulated environment. We feel somewhat protected and so we might react to other drivers in a worse way than if we were face to face.

In Restaurants: Interacting with “servers” might make us feel entitled to complain more than usual or to be outright disrespectful to them. This also applies to how you might treat the secretary to a “big boss”; your behavior toward the secretary is noted, and likely shared. The point is, we mustn’t be rude to people we perceive to be subordinate to us.

At Sporting Events: Here we feel it’s only right to berate and insult the players on the other team (or the referees). We might even do the same to our own team over a botched play. Would we speak to the players that way in person? Not likely.

At Home: This might be the most difficult place to be our best self. Maybe we’ve had a horrible day at work. That’s no reason to make the evening at home miserable for everyone else. Perhaps we can vent some frustrations to a loved one, but let’s not unload our anger onto innocent family members.

Let’s look to Ephesians 4:22-24 for guidance: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

We can learn to watch our own behavior and choose to react in a more merciful way, to put on our new self. We must learn to release our rage and work towards making a positive impact.

Consider these scenarios: What if Jesus were sitting next to you - in your car, at that restaurant, at that game, or at home? Which behaviors would he observe? Living a Christian life can be a challenge, but living the kind of life that God calls us to live, makes for a beautiful journey.