Beware of Christians

A few weeks ago I was browsing Netflix and found a documentary entitled "Beware of Christians", a story following four college guys as they traveled to Europe and asked the people there what Christianity meant to them. One quote that struck me has been on my heart lately. They asked people in Italy if they could tell the difference in how Christians lived and they said, "No, they're just busy on Sundays." This broke my heart.

The Bible states that there is a different characteristic that will set believers apart: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

If you've been consistently reading my posts on Thursdays, you'll see a trend throughout the past few weeks: love. Last week we looked at what the love of Christ looked like, and this week we see that the world will know that we are believers by OUR love.

If we look at two of the disciples of Christ, we see that they didn't have anything really special about them. However, people knew that they were different other than the fact that they were busy while they went to church.

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13).

God had given them boldness, which flowed naturally out of their love for Him. Because when you love someone, you talk about them. They become part of you; they invade your thoughts and your conversations with others. That's what happened to Peter and John, and people saw.

Now, if you don't talk about Jesus 24/7 this post is not to condemn you. But following Jesus is much more than just being busy on Sunday mornings. Following Him means allowing Him to shape your life and mold you into something beautiful that He will use to further His Kingdom, and that is done by showering the love that He gives to us onto others as well.

I pray that Christ's words recorded in John would be true of each one of us today, and not merely that we're busy on Sundays.