What Would They Believe About Jesus Christ?

Human BibleYesterday my pastor asked us this question: “If your life was the only Bible people read, what would they believe about Jesus Christ?” I’ve asked God to make that the preeminent question in my life that I must answer daily. By my actions and attitudes, what am I telling the world about my Lord and Savior?

When I am asked about spiritual things, do I make Christ the center of my answer pointing people to their need for Him, or do I water down my answer and just make it about “God”? Do I inform them of the unpopular exclusivity of Jesus Christ?

    “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6)

When I comment on the issues of the day, do I point them to the need for people to come to Christ or to send better people to Washington D.C.? Of course the former could lead to the latter, but do I get to the root evil of the issues of our time?

    “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34)

If the discussion is about abortion and the correct way to approach its abolition, do I use my human reasoning and political pragmatism, or do I share God’s point of view?

    “You shall not murder.” (Deuteronomy 5:17)

When it comes to the issue of homosexual marriage, do I listen to man’s arguments or do I share God’s opinion?

    “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22)

If a man approaches me for guidance on a problem he is having with his wife, do I give him a pat on the back, encourage him to get along with his wife, or do I share what the Bible says on husbands?

    “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.” (Ephesians 5:25-28)

For the longest time I tried to make my Christianity acceptable to an unaccepting world. I tried to “PC” God’s Word so that people would accept it. News flash! That never works, as in ever. For me to think that I can take God’s Word and change it to something more acceptable, well I might as well be sharing from the NTFV (New Touchy-Feely Version) Bible. I am a double-minded man allowing the world’s opinion to shape my beliefs.

    “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5-8)

If I am a handwringing, apologetic, namby-pamby Christian who is willing to always give right ground to wrong thinking, then can my Jesus be read as anything else? I mean imagine the US having an ambassador like that (okay bad example), nevertheless the truth of what our nation stands for would be confused by the actions and attitudes of our ambassador.

Keeping with this ambassador theme, allowing the world and our flesh to determine our Christianity is exactly the opposite way of how we are to live our lives as Christians. Remember well the Apostle Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian church:

    “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

If I am truly a new creation in Christ, I must put off my old ways of living by the world’s standards and put on Christ. I have been reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. My sins separated me from the Heavenly Father and my receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior should have made such a radical change in my life that I now represent Him to the world. I am His mouthpiece, His hands, and His feet to do the work that He desires to be accomplished.

Jesus desires that no man go to hell. He desires that all come to Him in repentance.

Do all men and women with whom I come in contact know that about Jesus because of me?

Do they because of you?

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

If you’re receiving these devotionals for the first time and would like to receive them on a regular basis, please email me at jeffers221@bellsouth.net and use “Please add to Devotional List” as the subject.

    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,