Last night in Youth Bible Study, we were looking at the question of why we need to spend time growing closer in our relationship with God. One of the points that came up was that we are told to imitate Christ. (And we can’t imitate someone if we don’t know anything about them.) Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children.” It is our responsibility to live lives that look as much like Jesus Christ as possible.
As part of this study, we discussed the book, UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. This book, which was published in 2007, discusses information that was gathered as part of a survey of thousands of non-Christians. They were basically asked about their perception of Christians. What did they know (or think they knew) about Christians, based on their encounters with them in the world? One thing I remember from reading this book is that the overwhelming majority of non-Christians surveyed had a negative perception of Christians.
When non-Christians (or pre-Christians, or unbelievers, if you prefer) think of Christians, some of the things they immediately think of are: too political, out of touch with the world, old-fashioned, hypocritical, and judgmental. These are all fairly negative perceptions of Christians. Another thing that the survey unearthed is that, for most people, Christians are known more for what we are against than for what we are for. In other words, lots of people can tell you that Christians don’t believe in such and such, or Christians oppose this certain thing, but they are less likely to report that Christians believe in justice, equality, love, and peace.
As Christians, this type of information should bother us. Jesus said that the world would identify us by our love. It makes me sad that this is not how the world sees us. It really bothers me that so many people have a negative perception of those of us who are Christ-followers.
Make no mistake about it. We, as Christians, bear the responsibility for this. It all comes back to the scripture verse I used in the beginning. We are supposed to be imitators of God. Are we? Are we imitating God with our lives?
Sadly, I think that people who claim (sometimes loudly) to be Christians don’t always stop to consider how their actions appear to the world around them. In public; on social media; around your friends and family – remember that you are a Christ-follower, and that means that you need to imitate Christ.
Ask yourself if every action you take, every word you post, every opinion you champion is an imitation of Christ. That means more than justifying everything you do because you think that your beliefs are right. The world can’t SEE your beliefs, but they can see your actions. If we truly believe that we are to be imitators of Christ, we should seek to act like He did. We should try our best to live like He told us to. He told us that the most important thing is love. He said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all we are. The second is to love others as we love ourselves. Do your actions show that you believe what He said?
Jesus is about humility; not conceit.
Jesus is about peace; not violence.
Jesus is about justice; not injustice.
Jesus is about compassion; not disdain.
Above all:
Jesus is about love; not hate.
Let’s try to be about His business.
Karen
musingsofamatureyouthminister 