Talk Like This and Act Like That

I, like most of the rest of the UK it seems, have been enthralled by the recent series of Sherlock - Steven Moffat & Mark Gattis's modern day rewrite of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The series, with its innovative camera work, and its digital editing to portray what goes through the mind of the genius detective has been, in my opinion, a real high point for British television recently! 

The thing that I really like is the way Sherlock analyses the tiniest of details, and uses those to piece together a detailed and accurate understanding of the individuals' background, circumstances and state of mind, which he then uses in a number of ways, usually to the complete bafflement of the individual he is talking to, and certainly to the bemusement of poor old Dr. Watson.

Everytime they do it, I'm left thinking how clever... but the reason its so clever is that actually, its what we all do, all the time. We may not be Sherlock, able to read a persons life history from the scuff marks on his shoes, but the picture, the understanding we build of a person comes not so much from the things they say, but from the little details we see in their everyday lives. 

So, I'm left wondering, what would Sherlock, or indeed anyone else who took the time to study me see if they looked at the details of my life. Would they see someone trying his best to live out a Christian life, to be humble, obedient, self-sacrificing and godly, or would they see malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Would Sherlock, or more importantly, Almighty God, look at me and see someone who talks one way and acts another.

Unfortunately, because I am only human, then more often he would. And even when I get it right, its because of him, because of his free gift of grace, not because of anything I've actually done. So, until the time when He returns and takes away my imperfections, I need to keep trying, and I need to remember that its not the grand statements and the things I say that matter, so much as what I do, in each and every little thing. 

The old saying is that "the devil is in the detail" - but really, if I am going to live the Christian life I would so dearly love to live, I need God to be in the details of my life, the small, everyday things, and then, just maybe, I might start to live up to what He wants for me.