1 Peter 3:15-16
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”
I love this. Always be prepared to give an answer…for the hope that you have. Can you imagine if this was the question people were asking the Christians?
Wait a minute–why do you have so much hope in this tragic, mean world?
This is is how it should be. This world should be a place where Christians are identified by good, beautiful qualities like hope, love and compassion.
The more I read the Bible and take time to write about it, digest it and think about it, the more clear it is to me that the point of all of this is to love each other, to trust Christ and to stop making our stupid selves the center of the universe… The point of it all just happens to be the most beautiful stuff of life.
The Bible refers to that good stuff in us as the Fruit of the Spirit. In other words, if we’re all trees and someone walks up to us and wonders what kind of tree we are, they will be able to tell by the kind of fruit hanging from our branches. It’s the visible, identifiable things that believers in Christ should be known for–specifically; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Did you notice that nowhere in that list did it mention judging everyone we come across? It never mentioned hating anyone? It never mentioned that the world will know us by who we do and do not associate with? Did you notice that the it never mentioned that the world will know us by the color of our skin, or the accent in our speech….or which denomination we attend…or by how utterly sinless we are?
Nope, none of those things.
This is how the world should recognize Christians: by our hope, by our love. No really, I’m not just being fluffy – it’s what the Bible actually says.
John 13:35
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”
Christians should be constantly asked questions like:
Hey, why do you love everyone so much?
Hey…why so hopeful?
Hey man, why are you always so compassionate?
Hey, why do you love that guy who clearly hates you?
Wouldn’t this be beautiful if it were true? Wouldn’t this be a testament to our faith if this is how the world saw Christians?
What I’m saying is that the world shouldn’t know us by our rules. They shouldn’t know us by our picket signs casting disapproval on certain groups of people. The world shouldn’t know us by the statements of condemnation we issue. The world shouldn’t know us because we withdraw our money from organizations that accept the “wrong” kinds of people. The world shouldn’t know us because we’re all banded together into one political party. All that stuff is just gross. I want nothing to do with all that stuff.
How did Christianity get so mixed up? How is it that Jesus came here and said “Look, your job is to tell people that there’s a better way – that there’s actually good news. Oh, and your other job is to help out poor people, orphans, widows and people like that”. And instead, we turned that into a bit fat list of who’s right and who’s wrong and what’s acceptable and what’s not and we’re the judge of everybody and Fine! I’ll just take my money and give it to someone else!
I mean, seriously, I do NOT think this is what Jesus meant.
Love should be the tattoo on believers’ foreheads. Hope should be the word on the tip of our tongues. At the end of the day, we should ask ourselves what kind of fruit was hanging from our tree. What were the characteristics that identified us as followers of the author of life and love?
I hope that love is what the world sees.