Are you a Christian? If so, do me a favor and work diligently to be a good Christian. This isn’t some sort of works-based theology. In this scenario, I am much more concerned about how you represent Christ to the world around you.
If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, then for the sake of Christ’s church, please try to actually act like Jesus, love like Jesus, and live like Jesus. Be a good Christian. Don’t be a cultural Christian or a political Christian. Be a biblical Christian. Be the kind of person that causes other people to want what you have.
I don’t have scientific data to back this up, but I suspect that little has done more damage to the reputation of the church and of Christians in general than bad Christians. Child-abusers who claim to follow Jesus give the church a bad reputation. But, it isn’t only the egregious sinners who give the church a bad name.
I’m still ashamed of a conversation I had with a waitress 10 years ago. I knew her, she knew I was a pastor. There was another man in the restaurant who was also a pastor in our community. “Do you know him?” she asked. I told her the truth, “I know who he is, but I don’t know him.”
She went on to explain with a few choice expletives that he came into the restaurant often and was consistently the worst customer in the restaurant, “And he’s a preacher.”
I apologized for his sin, but I couldn’t change what had happened over and over again.
That young lady was not a Christian, and she had little interest in becoming one. And a man who was a Christian leader in our community gave her one more reason to not love Jesus. Read More
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