"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)
Do you remember that song, "And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, they will know we are Christians by our love"? In college, the leader of the Christian ministry I was involved in used to say,
"And they will know we are Christians by our T-shirts."
Think about that for a minute. When you're friends look at you, how would they know that you are a Christian or, as the verse says, one of Jesus' disciples? Would the way you talk, or your actions, or the essence of who you are look any different to them than one of their non-believing friends? Or would they only guess you were a Christian because you wore a t-shirt that had a bible verse on the back of it, or a WWJD bracelet, or you have a Jesus fish on the back of your car?
His point was that we walk around unabashedly with Christian garb on but fail to live in such a way that looks differently.
So how would your friends know that you are a follower of Christ? Because you have the holy spirit dwelling within you, you have the power to love others more deeply, forgive more easily, extend grace to all, and generally live above reproach (Romans 8:9-11). This doesn't mean we will ever live a perfect life, much less a perfect day, but it does mean that you have the ability to LIVE differently. And THAT is how your friends should know you are a believer.
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2 comments:
okayy. so no one ever comments, so i'm starting the trend! hanna, you're sooo right. it's so easy to be identified by clothes, or songs, but it's so hard to live differently. but i've found this year, that asking god for help with living differently, really works.
yes! Leslie thanks for being a trend setter! :)
And I think you're so right. I think that the ONLY way we can truly live differently is by asking God to give us the power to do that. Paul says that we are a new creation in Him. We have the Holy Spirit inside of us who will transform our behavior, we just have to yield to Him and definitely ask God for the strength to do that!
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