Do You Reflect Your Faith?
They claim to know God, but by their
actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing
anything good. – Titus 1:16
How do people know you are a Christian? Is it because
you attend church most Sundays? Is it because you wear a cross around your
neck? Is it because you quote a book you rarely read?
Maybe you’re someone who loudly proclaims your faith.
You’re quick to tell others how to live, to pass judgement “based” on the
Bible, and to hold others up to impossible standards.
Or maybe you just love people. Maybe you do all you
can to help others without stopping to consider if they are worthy or not.
Maybe you give sacrificially. Maybe you offer kind words or encouragement and
quickly share all that Jesus has done for you. Maybe, just maybe, there’s a joy
about you that makes others want what you have.
Here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter how often you are
in church if people don’t see evidence of faith in your life. It doesn’t matter
if you tithe if you never reach out beyond yourself to help someone in need.
And it doesn’t matter how quick you are to quote the Bible if you don’t hold
yourself up to its standards.
A deacon who hates people of other races is just as
lost as the drug addict who thinks there’s no other way. A church elder who
condemns anyone who disagrees with his politics is just as lost as a woman with
loose morals. And a pastor who gropes women and tells lewd jokes is just as
lost as the young man who thinks his wild ways are acceptable behavior.
We’re all pretty good at “making” the Bible say what
we want it to say. We take what feels right and good and turn the words to our
benefit. We ignore grace and mercy for anyone who isn’t like us. We define our
neighbor as fellow Americans and forget that Jesus told us to include all
nations.
We judge without ceasing, thinking that it is somehow
our right to do so. We love those of our choosing, forgetting that we’re to
love God first and others – all others – as ourselves. We help based on our
standards of worthy, with those like us being those who are worthy.
We welcome everyone who wants to work. We suffer
through service, unwilling to give up control of how we want things done. We
look down on people who aren’t willing to perform tasks the way we think it
should be done and we wonder why volunteers are so hard to find.
We grumble if someone kneels at the altar as we sing
the last song on Sunday. We’re hungry and we’ve sat on that pew or in that
chair long enough. We aren’t concerned with someone who is hurting. We’re only
concerned with ourselves.
Should I go on? Do I need to go on? People should know
we are Christians because we love others and carry a joy about us no matter our
circumstances. Unfortunately, we’re too busy pointing fingers at others to see
ourselves as we really are.
As the saying goes, we are the only Bible some people will
ever read. Are they reading about Jesus as He truly is? Or are they seeing a
Pharisee masquerading as a believer?
