How You Can Tell

 How you can tell

Am I a biker? Well, I ride a motorcycle. I put a helmet on my head (because I don’t trust me). I get on it. I start it. And I can drive it down most roads with little to no difficulty. However, I don’t get into the curves too fast or ride it on dirt tracks or mountain passes. Why? Because even though I am able to ride a motorcycle when the road is smooth and straight, I am not necessarily an accomplished rider. I don’t take long trips on a bike. I do not spend much time caring for the machine other than putting gas and oil in it. I did wash it once this year. I ride a motorcycle but I am not a biker. There is a big difference between a biker and a rider.

Christianity has similar distinctives. There are a good many people today who would claim to be Christian. They attend church when they have time as long as it is not too inconvenient. They are often seen putting some small amount of money in the offering plate as it passes. In fact, many who claim to be Christian even try to do things in public that look religious. Is church attendance worship? Does giving a small amount “appease” God? Is doing good things the same as being holy?

I was at the post office this morning. A middle-aged woman driving a pickup truck pulled into the lot. After she entered the office she began to tell a story to the post master. In that story she made no attempt to refrain from the use of common vulgarities. What she did and said clearly caused me to wonder if she had ever been saved. I felt sorry for her as I wondered about her eternal state. As I passed by her truck I saw a large Bible on the dash in clear view. Was it her Bible? Did she actually claim to be born again? Later in the day I was on the computer and was directed to the page of a friend whom I am fairly certain would claim to be saved. As I read the entries posted by my friend I was actually shocked and at times appalled by what was there. Were these people Christians? Think this through carefully, were they Christians?

Believers today (those who claim to be saved) have no real sense of holiness. There is no revulsion toward sin, no actual hatred of sin. Christians today essentially sin and say, “oops” and go on with life. God calls us to a holy, sin free, life. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery (John 8:11) to “go and sin no more.” 1Peter 1:15 says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.”  And we are warned by the Apostle Paul that if we do sin God will punish us for it if we are truly saved, Hebrews 12:5b-6, “…My son despise not the chastening of the Lord nor faint when though art rebuked of Him. (v.6) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” These two passages are most enlightening. If we are not living holy lives we are living in open rebellion against God. And the evidence that we are God’s children is the chastisement (punishment) that God brings into our lives every day because of our sin. Here then is the dilemma. If we are sinning without God punishing us, are we saved? If we can live in un-holiness without guilt are we truly the children of God? It is almost like we want to be bikers without being dedicated to biking. We are trying to be Christians without allowing God into our daily lives, without allowing His Holy Spirit to reign supreme in our hearts.

We do not perform all the things that Christians are known to do in order to be saved. BUT, if we are saved and God’s Holy Spirit is living in our heart, if we have truly been born again we will naturally be living differently, II Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” 

When people see you, what do they see? Do they see someone who is living a holy life in compliance with the command of God? Are there noticeable differences between your life today and the life you lived before coming to Christ? What words come out of your mouth during a conversation? Or, what do your text messages and facebook postings reveal about the heart you said was changed by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ?

Jesus left us here in this world to be ambassadors for Christ, to represent Him here. Everything we do reflects on the name of our Lord positively or negatively. We are His ambassadors. With everything we say, everything we post on these computers and every text we send we are telling a lost world something about our God.

What did you, by your actions or words, tell the world about Jesus today?