One of the things I have noticed about Christians is judgement and hypocrisy. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 7:1-4. We are not to judge for we are all the same, born into sin. There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10).
Our job as Christians is to bring people to Jesus and let then know the love of Christ. It is then that the Holy Spirit takes over to deal with the sin. It is not our place to judge or pass judgement.
What does it mean to be a Christian? To answer this we must first look at the origin of the term.
It started as a derogatory term given to the disciples in Antioch, its meaning today is to be Christ-like. At that time, being Christ-like was not necessarily a good thing, the people were mocked and ridiculed. The same holds true today.
As Christians, there are things we must do and practice in our day-to-day lives to not only live for Christ, but to be an example for Him.
First thing we must do is remember the great commandment of Jesus. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19, 20).
In order to do this we must be leaders. In the military, no one
follows the private; he is at the bottom of the chain of command. In order to
be good leaders, we must be good followers. In this, we must follow God’s Word.
All great leaders lead by example. We have many leaders in this country that do not lead by example. They are living high off the hog and taking lavish vacations while the people struggle.
As Christians we are all part of the body of Christ which makes up the church. How we represent ourselves is how we represent Jesus and ultimately the church. We cannot expect anyone to believe in Jesus if we as Christians do not first and foremost show the love of Christ.
Jesus’ first commandment was that of love. “You should love the Lord your God
with all your heart and all your soul” “You should love thy neighbor as you
love yourself” (Matt 22:37-39). This
does not override any of the Ten Commandments. If you break any of the Ten
Commandments you are not walking in love.
Many Christians and Churches do not
understand this. This does not exclude Clergy. How about the Reverends Al
Sharpton, Jeremiah Write, and Jesse Jackson just to name a few? If they
exemplify the love of Christ, I must be a saint. I am not judging anyone or
their Ministry, but the Lord blessed me with a brain and I know hate speech
when I hear it. They are real quick to jump on TV and spout racism. If you call me a racist because of the color of my skin, what does that make you?
Are we to take examples from these men? What about those who
are lost and a part of the population they speak of as evil? What about those
who subscribe to their message? There are many. Paul writes to Timothy in his letters about
such dangers. Our church leaders must be especially careful. As Christians
we need to connect with our church leaders and pray for them.
