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GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD
Encountering an extraordinary God in ordinary life
Issue # 266 September 20, 2001
Christian Bashing
As I sat drinking my coffee and waiting for a friend, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation from the table next to me. Actually, I don’t think anyone in the whole place could help overhearing, the conversation was loud and animated.
The subject of the debate was Christians. Actually, it was more of a Christian bash session than a debate.
The general consensus was that Christians are hypocrites, weak people in need of Christ as a crutch.
"What is with those Christians anyway, why don’t they just do what they say they believe or shut up and leave people alone?"
I didn’t like their attitude, and I didn’t like a lot of what they were saying, but I had to admit to myself that they made some good points.
The world may not understand what it is that Christians believe, but they know it’s different than what we do. They hold us to a higher standard than they hold themselves.
They know we should be behaving differently, and when we don’t, they see no reason to listen or give credibility to us when we speak.
Who can blame them? In your own life, how much weight do you give to someone who says one thing and does another? Probably very little.
We’re never going to be perfect in our walk, but there are many small areas that each of us can work on to more closely align our walk with our talk.
We’re forgiven when we fall by the grace of God, but some people may not hear the message when our deeds and words are out of sync.
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus Philippians 2:1-5a NIV
Perhaps if we took this approach, instead of bashing Christians, people might be interested in what we have that is so different. We might gain some credibility.
How’s your walk? Does it match the talk?
Until next time, may Christ reveal to us the places our walk and talk don’t match and convict us to repent and change.
God bless.
Kevin
© 2001 K.F. "Kevin" Corbin
All Rights Reserved