Who Do You Say That I Am?

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.

Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

- Mohandas Gandhi

The email came from a friend of mine, with the subject line: “Here’s where I always have a problem”…. So I knew it was going to be another good discussion with her. Even though she never actually said the quote, her email ran along the lines of this famous quote by Mohanda Gandhi. I’ve been thinking about this email and quote ever since I received it. We did have a great discussion, too.

This email and conversation with my friend also raised a lot of questions in my mind, things I have been “chewing” on ever since. These questions have convicted me to take a look at myself. How is that people can claim to be followers of Christ and yet, not look one bit like Him? I know that there have been times when I looked NOTHING like Christ, in my actions or words…. And I never paused to think about how others might see Christ, if I claimed to be a follower of Christ.

At youth group the other night we talked about a theme for year. We listened to several songs and read some scriptures to go with the songs. We were searching for a theme for our year… who do we want to be known as? What does it mean to “live the life”? What does it mean to BE Christian? What does it mean to love as Jesus loved? One of the songs we listened to was Lincoln Brewster’s new song “Reaching For You” [Video quality not the best, but you can hear the song quite well]. A great discussion followed that song on how these kids sometimes feel “persecuted” for going to the church that they go to or being labeled some type of Jesus Freak when they live with integrity. It was at this time that a very wise young man said: do you think people even realize that they need God? That statement blew me away.

How often do I live like God really doesn’t matter?

How often do I live like I don’t really need God?

How often do I live like all that really matters is "today"?

How many times do I confuse people who really need to see Jesus in my life, by living in a way that they do not see Jesus in me?

Our words and actions are on display. They “tell” who Jesus is to those who know I am a Christian and to those who do not know I am a Christian. What is my life saying about Jesus? What picture do other people see?



[The Lincoln Brewster video is from last weekend at Lifelight - a free 3 day music festival located about an hour from me.]