VIA ELEV8:
By Stuart McDonald
It would be foolish for me, as an amateur, to head out onto the field at any professional sporting event without proper training, conditioning, and preparation. No doubt people would immediately see the difference in the way I played and my athletic abilities. I would be disjointed from the rest of the team and very clumsy. It would be very clear to everyone that I was not ready for the game. While I would cause great embarrassment to the team, the owner, the fans, even the other players, the greatest embarrassment would fall on me personally.
We might think that sort of thing would never happen, but we tend to overlook the thousands, if not millions of Christians step onto the playing field of life, ill-prepared for the game. We haven’t conditioned our minds to think like Christ, our speech to sound like Christ, nor have we participated in the pregame “rituals” of prayer and devotion. We think we can go out there and “wing it.” Then we wonder why people are easily embarrassed to be called “Christian.”
1 Thessalonians 2:10 tells us that we “should live in a way that proves you belong to the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”
If no one ever heard us speak, would the actions of our lives, the demeanor that we carry, and our attitudes towards others, be enough to convince them that we are followers of Christ? Would there be a visible difference in the way we carried ourselves? I would venture to say the answer for most who call themselves “Christian” would be “no.”
