 If
someone were to ask you what a Christian looks like how would you describe that
person? You might say that he or she is a person who has read the Bible, who
attends Bible Studies, goes to church, wears certain clothes and adheres to the
teachings of a church. You might even go as far as to say that a person who is a
Christian would be a person who is charitable, helps others, takes care of the
needs of the elderly and the sick, and maybe someone who is involved in church
evangelism or church leadership. While all of these are things that might point
people to what a Christian should or does look like, the one thing that speaks
louder than any words, that one thing that gives our testimony creditability
more than our good work, or service is to be Christ like.
What does that mean? It means that when others see you they should see Jesus
Christ and his attributes in you?
So let me ask this very candid question. If there was not a Bible to be
found how would your life represent Jesus Christ? Church Swindoll makes an
interesting comment concerning how the world examines Christianity stating,
Like it or not, the world watches us with the scrutiny of a seagull peering at a shrimp in
shallow water.
The believer is under constant surveillance. That's our number one
occupational hazard. And when we speak of our Saviour and the life he
offers, everything we say is filtered through that which has observed.
What is result of this lack of an
urgency to be Holy before a corrupt world? What is the contrast of a
life claiming to be a Christian and those who live life as a Christian?
Hudson Tyler said, The inconsistencies of Christian people, who while
professing to believe their Bibles, were yet content to live life just
as they would if there was no such Book, had been one of the strongest
arguments of my skeptical companions.
But prove yourselves doers of the
word, and not merely
hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word
and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a
mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has
immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. (James 1:22-24)
Finally we should be heartbroken
that when a man who many consider to be one of the greatest men of his
faith was asked why he was not a Christian his reported response was,
"If it weren't for the
Christians, I would have become one." When asked what we could do to
influence the world towards Christianity he said, first that Christians
should act like Jesus Christ. What we notice is that he didn't say
preach at them though preaching is an avenue God uses, he said, act like
Jesus in other words be Christ like. Jesus said to Peter the fisherman,
Come 1 follow
me and I will 2 make
you fishers of men. The
order that Jesus teaches is important as he calls man to follow him, to
be like him, to live like he lived, to love like he loved and to be holy
as he was holy. It is then
that we can become the fishers of the souls of man and
fulfill the great commission given to the disciples, "Go therefore and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I commanded you.
Are you a good representative of Jesus Christ? Do you feel the need
to be his ambassador? Are you willing to do what it takes to be his
disciple?
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