Sometimes as I walk through this life I am dumbfounded by the ways the Bible does not match up with the Christians I see around me. Most importantly, many times this realization is made when I am looking in the mirror. “Why haven’t more people become Christians? Is it because they have never met a Christian… or because they have?”
Examples of failures
It is the last part of the statement that is haunting me. Why are we so unrecognizable in comparison to our namesake? I know I can be the biggest offender of this problem. I can have an amazing time in His word, blown away by his wonderful Love, Power and Grace. Two hours later I have lost all of my patience and I am yelling at my daughter. Really?
I can experience a time of worship and fellowship in Him and I am filled with His Joy. However, that Joy cannot be found when I am standing at a long line at a store the next day. Wow!
Then I hear the stories… how a church judged a woman because she married a man of a different race, and how a man in a car bedecked with a Jesus fish gestured hatefully at a fellow driver. I hear Christians speak in judgment and envy, and act with selfishness and hate.
Recently, I was blessed to be able to attend a Chris Tomlin concert in Denver. This Godly man humbly led 5,000 people into powerful worships of our living Lord. You could literally feel the Holy Spirit vibrating in the venue. I was in awe and yet I could not help but wonder how this power and strength might impact the city of Denver, then Colorado, then the US if it was released! After the concert I walked back to my hotel room fell asleep and did nothing.
When I realized just how powerful, amazing and big our God is – and I look at myself and the world around me – I am disappointed. Are we really being His ambassadors? In 2 Corinthians 5:20 it says “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.”
Why can’t we represent?
I have heard many arguments about this. I have heard about our sinful nature. In Romans 7:18 it says “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”
I have heard that we cannot see how God may be working and I have even been told not to be so hard on myself. I get it. I understand the arguments, but this issue stills confuses me. The answers do not seem to equal up to the problem.
I just have to humble myself before our amazing Lord, get on my knees and pray.
So, I implore you to join me. The next time you see or you participate in an action that does not line up with the “Christ” in “Christian,” choose not to complain, judge, and/or look the other way. Move away from shame. Take hold of the power of Jesus’ sacrifice and humbly beseech our Father in prayer.