God Not Us

Hey Girls,

Did you ever meet someone who called themselves a Christian but acted or spoke in such a way that you were immidiately disapointed and disgusted with them? Did it turn you away from going to their church? Or make you think about God negatively? Well, non Christians and Christians do that all the time with us. They judge God by the example we set. If they see us doing something they don't like, often they sometimes think that if that's the way followers of God act than they don't want any part of God. It's not a good situation for anybody. It makes us Christian feel like we have to achieve an unreal standard when we are human, prone to screwing up like everyone else but at the same time, we know that we have to set the best example we can.

However, all of us have to admit that we do look at other people. Our eyes are on people way too much and not on God enough. Hebrews 12:2 tells us "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." We need to watch Jesus and look for his example. Other Christians can easily misdirect us but by keeping our eyes on the perfecter of our faith, we will grow. We can't look for examples of righteous living from each other. We can only get that from God and the instructions he leaves us in his word (although positive examples from other people greatly aid us).

Yet we do have a responsibility to show a good example to others. We are Christ followers and we want to inspire others to do the same. 1 Cornithians 8:12-13 tells us how important our example is "When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." This is tough stuff. We have to be so careful about what we do so that we do not lead other Christians, our 'brothers and sisters' (not just non Christians) into sin. We want to point other Christians closer to God, just as with non-Christians.

The Bible tells us that our example has to be different from the world. John 15: 19 says "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." The world rejected Jesus so it makes sense if the world rejects us too, meaning, what we do, most often will not gain approval by everyone. We stand against homosexuality, abortion, violence..etc, things the world often embraces. It's not a popular standpoint to have but it is one we must come to terms with having.

How many of us girls just blend in? We don't stand out as Christians and we don't make waves. We try not to offend but at the same time we still hope to remain true to our beliefs. How will anyone recognize you're a Christian when you look and act like everyone else does? What makes you different? Jesus offended a lot of people. It's hard to follow in that example and know that you may be ridiculed because of it.

I'm not saying go find a street corner and start preaching or tell all your coworkers that the world is evil. But what I do believe, and this is kinda tough, is to be open to hearing God. When God gives you a nudge to go pray with that lady you briefly met at walmart or sit down in your lunchroom at school on your knees to pray, I hope that you will be faithful to that. God sometimes does call us to do embrassing things and I hope that I would be faithful too! At other times, being different just means we stand true to our beliefs; when someone asks our opinion on a subject, we can't shy away and give the generalized 'not to offend' version but we have to come out and say exactly what we believe. Often times it's things like that, the little things, the speaking out when we'd rather keep quiet, that has a tendancy to show others our faith (or lack of).

My prayer is that all of my fellow Christians out there will stand strong in their faith. Apathy is perhaps one of the greatest battles we face in our society so must let our examples speak of God's love and care so that others will see and know, without a doubt, that, yes, God is there.