Evidence

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
(1 Peter 29-11)

As a lawyer I deal in facts and evidence all the time. It’s the nuts and bolts of our profession, and it’s how things are proved. It’s kind of the same for us in our daily life – how we live, think and speak are evidence of who we really are and Who guides us. We can say we are Christians all day long, but what does the evidence show?

In the early days of the Church, and even today in some parts of the world it is a crime to publicly state you follow Jesus. As American Christians we are used to having rights, one of which is freedom of religion. If that were to no longer exist, would our thoughts, actions, words and deeds convict us of being followers of Christ? They way things are headed that day may come sooner than we think.

I confess there are times when I’m sure I don’t look all that different than others in society, and I think that is a problem for many of us. We want to fit in, yet we are called to be different! The word we use today for the Church is “ekklesia (or ecclesia) It comes from ek, meaning “out from and to” and kaleo, meaning “to call,” and has to do with a group of people called out from one place and to another. We are to be called out of the world.

Even though we have to live in the world and be part of it, we are meant to be distinct and separate from the ways of the world. Our lives should be signposts on the highway of life that point others to the truth of God.

• Do we love people as God does?
• Do we share His invitation to salvation?
• Do we pray for others including those we don’t like, asking that they also would hear His call and become set apart ones?

I confess I don’t always do the above. I’m all about ME being saved, but at times I’m just too busy taking care of my stuff to stop and think about focus on what impact I’m having on others.

Consider the following quote:

“Your life as a Christian should make non believers question their disbelief in God.”
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Today I pray that I would be aware of the special calling on my life as a “set apart” one to make sure I’m representing Christ to the world.