Day 33: They'll Know We are Christians

This is a hymn that I can remember singing often in church.  Its tune is dark and gloomy, but it offers a simple, and important, idea.

The chorus says this:

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

And they'll know we are Christians by our love

How do people know that I know Christ?  How do people know that I have a relationship with Him?  People know I go to church.  People know that I am a church camp counselor.  Sometimes I have my Bible with me when I am on campus.  Sometimes I talk about God with friends in class and other places.  

There is a verse in Ephesians that says this: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received (Ephesians 4:1).  It is about my life, and it is about the way I choose to live it.  That is how I want people to know that I have a relationship with Christ.  That is simple to say, but takes a lot of thought and intention to put it into action.  It is about the way I treat others, the words I use when talking, how I handle conflict.  It is about showing humility, grace and love - and trying to do those things the way that Jesus did.  They will know I am a Christian through God's love.

 

1 John 4:8 says this: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  We often toss that idea around a lot when talking about God.  Who is God?  Well, God is love!  If we dig deeper in to it, that statement is most certainly true.

I read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, which is a very popular Bible passage on love - often read at weddings and framed and displayed in homes.  This time, I substituted all the places it uses the word love, for God. 

God is patient, God is kind.  (True). God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud (In some ways God does boast in us - He writes our names on His heart - but that is very different from how we practice boasting). God does not dishonor others, God is not self-seeking (He is truly selfless), God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
  God never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

God is love.  By allowing His love to live within us, that is how others will know we know Him.  That doesn't discount evangelism, and the need to share His word with others - but it gives us a starting place for the lives we are living in Christ.

~SP