In a discussion yesterday someone said "If Christians truly believed all they say they do there would not be any non Christians left in the world". Why? Because non-Christians read Christians and not the Bible. Their idea of what it means to be a Christian comes from what they see Christians doing - or not. This should come as no surprise though, these warnings are given to us in the Bible, to be careful of our actions and speech because people wait and watch. But the question is do we actually take in these words and consider what they mean?
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works... So that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us - Titus 2:7-8
As I look at the condition of us Christians today my heart is shattered. We make so many excuses for our behaviour, very sensible yes from a worldly perspective but is this how we are meant to be living? Christians who have no time for God except for Sunday because we're trying to make ends meet. Christians who rely on the black market for savings? Christians who are reluctant to give to the poor or take in an orphaned child because we're already stretched way too thin. Yes the economy is terrible and we find ourselves in a tricky predicament but is there really no other way for us to live? What does this say about us believing God is our provider, our sustainer? We say that if you plan according to God things will succeed but He's the last person we think of when plan, we consider the economy, greener pastures, what makes sense. We say the Lord is my maker and knows me best yet we ignore the passions he has placed in us and instead chase after what makes the most money.
We can make all the "valid" excuses we want but are they truly valid and will they truly be valid when it counts the most? Will we say Lord Lord only to find He doesn't "know" us? What do our lives say to the non-believer?
There are some people who can only be reached by you, in the space that you are in, doing what you are supposed to be doing through God, in God and for God. Will those people be reached?
My prayer today is that the Lord may give us a heart to truly love him and to prioritise him and his ways. That he may open our eyes and reveal to us the ways in which we can live in the world but not be of the world.
Keep your conduct among the gentiles, honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God - 1 Peter 1:12
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