The Red Lemon

Our oldest grandson was born seventeen years ago today. All five of our grandchildren have given us a lot of reasons to be proud of them. Each of them has added in his or her unique way to our “family legacy.” 

Early in his life, our oldest grandson began one of those “legends” that every family has. Even some people who are not a part of our family know what we are talking about when we talk about The Red Lemon.

When our grandson first began to speak and to be aware of the world around him, he fell in love with The Red Lemon. He still likes it even though he doesn’t call it The Red Lemon any longer. Apparently, he has inherited his Grampy’s sweet tooth. As a result, he loves ice cream and he learned as a little guy that they serve really good ice cream at The Red Lemon.

Unless you are “in” on the “inside joke” of our family, you may have never heard of The Red Lemon. All the same, I’m fairly certain that you’ve heard of the franchise and have probably visited one of their stores on more than one occasion. You may not call them Red Lemons, though. You may refer to them as Dairy Queens.

Our grandson could not read when he began to notice these places. He had not been conditioned by advertising or anything else to call them Dairy Queens. He only knew what he saw and, to him, the sign looked for all the world like a red lemon.

Over the years, I’ve wondered what made our grandson’s name for these places so bad. After all, those buildings sure don’t look like dairies and I haven’t found any evidence of female royalty in any of them! 

What would you think if you could not read and saw a logo like the one for Dairy Queen? Doesn’t it look a little like a red lemon to you?

I think that something more than an “inside joke” about a place of business may be going on here. In fact, there could be something really serious going on.

You see, children can often see what those of us who are older cannot see and/or refuse to see. To make matters worse, those of us who are older may spend a lot of time and effort “explaining away” what they see. 

We tell them things like: “You just don’t understand”; “That is the way it has always been done”; “Everybody accepts that”; or any number of other things. 

Our efforts probably won’t work. Our young people know what they see. 

What they see may often make a lot more sense than what we try to tell them about what they are seeing. Every time they detect an inconsistency in what they see and what we try to “explain away,” something potentially very serious occurs. The chances of these precious souls developing a deep faith of their own go down considerably. In some cases, unfortunately, faith has probably been destroyed. 

Maybe the material below will cause us to think. The first statements are labeled “DQ”. These are the claims we make. These are some of the attempts to ”explain away” what a young and impressionable soul sees. The second statement(s) are labeled “RL”. This is what our children or grandchildren may actually see and what might turn them completely off to the gospel of Christ.

DQ “The church is the most important thing in my life.”

RL “Every little ailment keeps Dad and Mom from worship services and Bible classes, but they never miss a day of work.”

“We never go to church on Sunday nights or Wednesday nights and, if anything “better” comes along, we won’t even worship on Sunday mornings.”

“Daddy seems to have plenty of money for all of his ‘toys’, but he couldn’t even buy me a milkshake with the amount he puts into the collection plate.”

DQ “I am so concerned about those who are not members of the Lord’s church and I pray that they will obey the gospel.”

RL “I have never known of any adult who has tried to study the Bible with, and convert, another person.”

“I guess it says somewhere in the Bible that the local preacher has the sole responsibility for personal evangelism.”

DQ “I am so happy to be a part of such a loving, caring church family.”

RL “Boy, considering the way Dad and Mom rip everybody apart when they are not with them, they must really hate those people.”

“You know, Dad and Mom ‘keep score’ of all those who do and do not visit them when they are in the hospital, lose a loved one or have some other need, but I’ve never known them to visit anybody else in the hospital, go to the funeral home, or do anything to help anybody else.”

“Why don’t Dad and Mom even know the names of the people with whom they worship? Aren’t we all supposed to be ‘family’?”

DQ “We need to know the Bible!”

RL “I’ve never seen my parents or grandparents open the Bible at home.”

“Why are my parents so concerned that I do my school work, but never ask me about my Bible classes or encourage me to take my material (even my Bible) with me to class.”

The list could go on, but I think you get the idea. Little eyes are watching every action and little ears are listening to every statement of ours. What we say and what we do could play a major role in determining the eternal destiny of those who are now looking up to us. What we say and do will determine our destiny.

I pray fervently that each of us individually, and all of us collectively, will live our lives in front of those who are younger so that the “ultimate inconsistency” will not be seen or heard:

DQ “I am a Christian. I am a member of the church Jesus promised to build (Matt. 16:18); the one for which He gave His life (Acts 20:28); and the one over which He is the head (Col. 1:18).”

RL “I can’t tell any difference between the people at church (including my family) and any anybody else.”

“The whole idea of trying to be a Christian is a joke.”

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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn