All Hat and No Cattle

Real cowboys and cowgirls have a term for people who like to dress like one of them without being one of them. Wearing a great pair of boots, a western shirt, wrangler jeans and a cowboy hat may give you the style of a cowboy, but it does not give you the lifestyle. City slickers who adorn themselves in western attire, people who make promises but don’t follow through, dogs who bark but don’t bite, and people who profess faith but don’t live by it, all fall into the category of All Hat and No Cattle.

     Another example of this principle is a 5-star hotel in Abu Dhabi that unveiled in its lobby a Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars!  The 40-foot tall faux evergreen cost $10,000 and its decorations of diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, plus the gold, silver, necklaces, earrings and bracelets, draped on its branches made it the most expensive Christmas tree ever! I’m sure it was beautiful, but if this was not a case of All Hat and No Cattle, I don’t know what is. 

     Muslims do not believe that Jesus was Lord at His birth, nor at any other time in His life. They believe He was just a prophet, although a very special one.  In many Islamic cultures, people are persecuted, tortured and beheaded for professing Jesus as Lord.  Some Muslim families will even contract an honor killing on one of their own, should he/she convert to Christianity.  So, what did this tree mean? Nothing. It was just a stylish holiday decoration.

     I get that same sense of “posing” when I watch the Hollywood and Nashville stars who live openly ungodly lives singing Christmas songs on a TV special. Good shows, but no heart. Does anyone believe that when they sing Oh, Holy Night it is an act of worship? Or that the scantily clad country girls singing Go, Tell it On the Mountain are really overcome with evangelistic fervor? And as always, the message is “Peace on Earth”, rather than “Peace with God”.

     I know, I’m being too harsh.  But this train of thought made me think about myself, too.  What would Jesus say to me about me and my hat?  Am I all show and no go?  Do I look the part but without the heart?  Many around me would say, No, Pastor Dave, you’re the real deal. You’re a preacher!  But, if I’m honest, there are far more days than I would like to admit, when I just talk the walk – at least from the Lord’s perspective.  He knows how frail I am and how fragile my faith is. I don’t want to be a colorfully decorated lobby with an elegant and beautiful tree adorned with all the trappings of Christmas that does not truly reflect that HE is the joy that rules my heart.  

     I may be wrong, but I think the world is looking for authenticity when it comes to people claiming to have faith in Jesus Christ. They want to see someone who actually LIVES like a Christian rather than someone who just looks and talks like one. If we are going to wear the hat, we should have the cattle of the Biblical lifestyle – being salt and light to a rotten and dark world, sharing the gospel to those who have yet to believe, bearing the fruit of the Spirit in our thoughts, words and deeds, and loving and forgiving one another.