There is an old saying that you don’t know an Indian until you’ve lived in his tepee.
Sometimes a phrase and an incident stay with you throughout your life. They are few and far between, but this maxim from Bro. Morrie Stewart has remained with us.
Bro. Morrie passed away May 28 and news of his passing brought back some memories. We were coming back from a study weekend in central Texas. It was pouring rain when we passed a group of big, BIG men standing beside a broken down car on the highway. After Morrie’s tremendous exposition on faith and discipleship in practice, what could we do but stop? As Morrie and I got out of the car and headed to offer our help, the ladies worried that this might be a set-up. What if they were muggers waiting to waylay travelers?
They were not! They had already called for help and it was on the way.
When we got back in the car, the conversation turned to the effect of Bro. Morrie’s studies and his ability to expound powerfully the word. He was virtually unique in our midst; he had all the vitality and charisma of a great TV evangelist and he had the Truth. We had used his outstanding TV tapes in central Texas with at least one baptism coming as a direct result of his TV talks.
As the years passed, our experience was duplicated many times over as Bro. Morrie used his gifts in the service of the Lord.
Bro. Morrie knew he was effective on TV and on the platform. He did not express a false modesty by saying this was not true. But what he did say was far more impressive.
“You never know an Indian until you’ve lived in his tepee.” Discipleship does not begin and end with impressive public performances. Godliness consists of what we’re really like and our real self is revealed in unguarded moments in our tepees.
Good and bad
This does not mean we always look good in public but act badly at home. Sometimes the brother or sister who appears stern and unapproachable in public is found to be sensitive and caring in his or her home environment. He becomes tense and nervous when in a crowd, but his real attributes come to life in a more relaxed setting.
The bad worries us
More often than not, when we relate the penetrating exhortations of Scripture to our home behavior, we shudder at what the Lord sees.
Godly conduct is “patient.” We think back to yesterday’s anger at our spouse or child and wonder if the issue was really that serious. Love is also “kind” and, with regret, we remember the thoughtful little deeds we neglected to do.
Right conduct “is not jealous.” We may never publicly express our resentment toward a successful acquaintance, but at home our true feelings may pour out in all their bitterness. We may feel safe to let our feelings pour out at home, but God’s exhortation relates to our attitude, not to where we express it.
“Love is not rude.” Courtesy is considering the other person’s needs ahead of our own in the small, everyday circumstances of life. There is nothing in the command that says it should be practiced everywhere but in our tepees.
Godliness “does not insist on its own way.” Without much difficulty, most of us can think of all the subtle ways we do just that around the house. Little things like color schemes and room arrangements, allocation of domestic chores, clutter around the house, treading around with dirty shoes are the types of things that can cause annoyance and work for our spouse, but we persist in doing them because we want to do things our own way.
Home conduct counts
Sometimes we act as if our home conduct doesn’t really count before God. Free from the judgmental eyes of others, we may relax with a book or program that glorifies sin and leads us into vicarious participation in hatred, blasphemy and immorality. Yet Scripture does not give sin free rein just as long as our action is kept from the knowledge of others.
And who hasn’t watched siblings act with utter selfishness, even hatred, toward one another, with the parents providing no reprimand? One cannot find any Scripture that says all the good principles can be waived if the other person is our brother or sister. For good reason, the admonition, “Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling” follows right after an extended exhortation relating to the home scene (I Peter 3:9, 1-7).
“You never know an Indian until you’ve lived in his tepee” is an old saying with powerful implications for the serious disciple.
Real humility
Brother Morrie’s remark has stayed with us and so has its context. By that one comment, he balanced out the praise he was receiving. There is a lot more to life than excellency in a few areas. A true disciple realizes that and does not let his abilities or accomplishments inflate his self-opinion.
The world is constantly idolizing people who are outstanding in sports or glamour or politics or business or intelligence. And then, if the “star” is not overly pompous, he is called “humble.” The appellation is given because he is courteous to reporters or generous in praise of teammates.
True humility, however, comes in realizing our overall position before God. Everyone is classified among “the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5). The detailed divine view is given in Rom. 3:9-19. Some of the phrases sting badly: “they use their tongues to deceive…their mouth is full of bitterness and cursing.”
As the Truth takes hold of our lives, the power of sin must lessen its control of our minds and mouths. But its vestigial remains will frequently be evident, especially in the confines of our tepees.
Realizing this situation should have a two-fold effect on us: we must endeavor more earnestly to improve our behavior in our home settings and we must maintain a humility of heart. No matter how accomplished we become, we are sinners saved from sin only by the grace of God and developing in godliness only through Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One