Marks of a Christian
I remember when I first became a Christian, I was bumping heads with all kinds of people. I had a passion for Christ and I wanted to let everyone know the truth and what they needed to change their life and make themselves right with God. I was on fire for the Lord but I had no sense of how to handle this new found life, energy and passion in my soul. I had no idea how to love others in Christ, I had no sense of listening, offering grace and mercy or just praying for those who did not want to listen to the Gospel.
I knew I was going to be late for my train if I didn’t move quicker. I passed a man who had a loudspeaker telling people they were going to hell. Without pause, I kept walking; he was always on the same street. Many city blocks later, two men were trying to hand me a tract asking me if I had Jesus. They weren’t always there. I figured I had probably already missed my train, so I stopped to talk to them. I found out they were from Milwaukee and were down here in Chicago trying do some “outreach.”
She walked in and sat down in her class room. Then the unthinkable happened. A boy she hardly knew burst into her classroom with a gun. He presses it to her head and asks her, “Do you believe in God?” I’m sure the question rang through her ears, as all sounds and thoughts came to a screeching halt jammed up into that moment, she responded, “Yes, I believe in God.” She lost her life for those few words. But there was something that she realized. She knew that when God is on the throne she had no reason to fear the cost or consequence of trusting in Him.
It is so comforting to me to know that our God is not like that. When He makes a promise, He holds to it. When He says that something will happen, buckle your seat belt, because it’s happening. He is reliable. He is faithful. He is true to His word. He never breaks His promise. He is never late. He always delivers. He is on time. He is perfect and never makes a mistake.
You look in the mirror, you’re brushing your teeth. Your eyes are pale; your mind is in some other distant place distracted by various grey clouds that are hanging intangibly out of reach. You deal with these problems the same way each day. You don’t know who you are anymore. The cloudy days linger. But you know deep down inside that you’ve got a problem with God. You know that you’ve got a real problem. You’ve got sin in your life.
If the voices of prophets, angels and other leaders for God is binding, how much more binding is the voice of Jesus?? How much more binding is the Word of the Scriptures? Yet because we do not see the consequences as evident in our lives, we refuse to listen. The immediate consequences that come from the hardening of hearts might not be the judgment of God, but He certainly allows in His perfect merciful wrath necessary reminders of what happens when we don’t hearken to the voice of God. When we harden our hearts and aren’t obedient we deny ourselves the chance for God to open the storehouses and shower down blessings upon us for our willingness to change, for our obedience.
There are a number of jokes that have been circulating the internet and are in little gift books. They are always titled something like, “You know you’re _______ if you’ve ever…”, “You know you’re a pastor if…”, or “You know you’re from Chicago if…” or even, “You know you’re a redneck if…” One of my favorites talks about how you can identify where a driver is from.
You’ll hear preachers talk about love and how God loves us. But what is love? I wonder if as Christians we would be happier, more joyful and more at peace if we understood what love really is. We’re told that God is love. We’re told that we’re supposed to love one another as Christ loved us. If you’re like me, you might be asking, does that mean I should die on a cross like He did?
I know right now that we exist in a world where there is much that has gone wrong. There is poverty, starvation, rape, murder, war, disaster and disease that is ripping through the entire world pulling it apart, atom by atom. I understand that this world will never be as it was originally made—as it was intended.
In it, C.S. Lewis paints a story about a bunch of people who are awaiting a bus in the dismal town of hell that will take them to the plains of heaven. Once arriving in a world more real then our own, these people find that the grass hurts their feet, and that they appear as shadowy ghosts and that the inhabitants of heaven are so bright and jovial that many of these ghostly visitors refuse to give up their selfish grudges, twisted loves, self righteousness and bitterness from their past to enjoy eternal joy. Here are some of my favorite quotes and thoughts from the book…