There is an, often overlooked (or ingnored) , scripture in Matthew 25 verses 34-40. In it Christ likens religious people to sheep and goats. He says to the sheep, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (NIV)
When the righteous asked ‘Lord, when did we do these things for you?’ His answer was: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
This is ‘Nuts and bolts’ Christianity. This is Love in action. This is loving our fellow man like we love ourselves. It is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. To be sure, there are truths that it is important to have, and live by, to be a true Christian. One can’t believe just anything and be considered Christian. But for those who claim ‘The Way’ these words of Christ are more important than which church one attends. These words are more important than having the nicest clothes and sitting in the front row of a church every week. They are more important than any ceremonial worship of God. This is the Spirit of God in action.
It’s often overlooked because it’s easier to appear to be righteous than to actually ‘be’ righteous. Too many Christians want to appear to be decent, upstanding people without actually ‘doing’ the things Christ said to do. That was the attitude of the Pharisees. Those folks are addressed in the next verses when He speaks to the goats. Their reward isn’t quite so appealing. The reader can see those verses for him or herself. My point here is simply to go straight to the heart of the matter of what it is to be Christian. I say go ‘to the heart’ because that is where it all starts. The heart is where true faith and hope and love come from.
The world today doesn’t want to deal with Christians. It asks us to leave our flaky, religious views outside when we come in to deal with them. They’re tired of the theme parks and the bumper stickers and the hypocrisy. If more of us simply lived our faith instead of talking about it, if more of us practiced ‘nuts and bolts’ Christianity, we would be invited in much more often. The impression we make would be much more positive and much more lasting. We would find people coming to us and asking what is it that causes us to behave so. We should then be ready to give an answer… Until our lives reflect something of Christ, He would be better served if we remained silent. That’s the real meaning of ‘Taking God’s name in vain’. When we advertise our religion the world scrutinizes everything we do.
In the meantime, a life lived like Christ would speak much more loudly than any Sunday morning TV show, bumper sticker or pamphlet. A life lived like Christ is a light to the world. It is an announcement that there is a better way. People that live Christ-like lives are the salt of the earth; they preserve it. They're the kind of salt that there can't be too much of. Unfortunately, the world is running out of salt...and it's beginning to rot for the lack of it.
When the righteous asked ‘Lord, when did we do these things for you?’ His answer was: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
This is ‘Nuts and bolts’ Christianity. This is Love in action. This is loving our fellow man like we love ourselves. It is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. To be sure, there are truths that it is important to have, and live by, to be a true Christian. One can’t believe just anything and be considered Christian. But for those who claim ‘The Way’ these words of Christ are more important than which church one attends. These words are more important than having the nicest clothes and sitting in the front row of a church every week. They are more important than any ceremonial worship of God. This is the Spirit of God in action.
It’s often overlooked because it’s easier to appear to be righteous than to actually ‘be’ righteous. Too many Christians want to appear to be decent, upstanding people without actually ‘doing’ the things Christ said to do. That was the attitude of the Pharisees. Those folks are addressed in the next verses when He speaks to the goats. Their reward isn’t quite so appealing. The reader can see those verses for him or herself. My point here is simply to go straight to the heart of the matter of what it is to be Christian. I say go ‘to the heart’ because that is where it all starts. The heart is where true faith and hope and love come from.
The world today doesn’t want to deal with Christians. It asks us to leave our flaky, religious views outside when we come in to deal with them. They’re tired of the theme parks and the bumper stickers and the hypocrisy. If more of us simply lived our faith instead of talking about it, if more of us practiced ‘nuts and bolts’ Christianity, we would be invited in much more often. The impression we make would be much more positive and much more lasting. We would find people coming to us and asking what is it that causes us to behave so. We should then be ready to give an answer… Until our lives reflect something of Christ, He would be better served if we remained silent. That’s the real meaning of ‘Taking God’s name in vain’. When we advertise our religion the world scrutinizes everything we do.
In the meantime, a life lived like Christ would speak much more loudly than any Sunday morning TV show, bumper sticker or pamphlet. A life lived like Christ is a light to the world. It is an announcement that there is a better way. People that live Christ-like lives are the salt of the earth; they preserve it. They're the kind of salt that there can't be too much of. Unfortunately, the world is running out of salt...and it's beginning to rot for the lack of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment