Will They Know?
I don't know about you, but I grew up in a time and place where Christians were pretty complacent about their faith. Everyone I knew went to church most Sundays. All the kids in town attended Vacation Bible School in the summer; some attended multiple Bible Schools at several different churches. I didn't know anyone who claimed to be an atheist or agnostic--I didn't even know what the words meant.
If I went to a friend's house for a meal, I expected that we would pray before we ate, and we usually did. We always said our prayers at bedtime, too. We believed in God. Everyone did, or so it seemed. We practiced Christian values. We knew lots of Bible stories. We could recite the Ten Commandments and John 3:16. No one told us we couldn't pray in school, but it didn't really matter to us, because praying was something we did at home at mealtime and bedtime, and in church on Sundays. No one I knew worked too hard to be a Christian, because Christianity was our way of life. We lived in a Christian country. We were Christians.
He did not fail me then. He let me know just how much he loved me. He let me know that he would always be with me.
Oh, he didn't speak to me out loud, but I heard his voice, just the same, as I read his Word, the Bible, and as I listened for his guiding voice when I prayed. And I began to learn that Christianity is so much more than a secure, American way of life. Christianity is all about relationship, with God and with all the people around us. Jesus summed it up for us when he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22: 37-39)
Just lately, I've heard that some Christians, in far-away countries in Africa and Asia, laugh at American Christians. They question our Christianity, quoting that Bible verse, from Matthew 19:24, where Jesus said that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." We forget that we Americans are all very rich. When we compare ourselves to the poorest people of the world, even the poorest Americans are rich in comparison. And, because we have lots of stuff, it is easy for us to forget how much we need God every day. The people in our world who have nothing, who don't know where their next meal is coming from, whose children are naked because they have no clothes, those are people who know just how much they need God. That's why Christianity is growing rapidly in the poorest nations of the world. People who have few material possessions are excited to hear about a great God who loves them. They are eager to depend on him for everything they need.
Here in America, we are pretty good at depending on ourselves, or on government programs, to provide what we need. It's no wonder that more and more Americans are forsaking Christianity, and making fun of Christians who speak out about their faith. Christian values are beginning to disappear. We seem to have a new law in the land, and it's no longer based on the Ten Commandments.
Americans who are not Christians are not content to sit and listen to someone preach at them. They really don't want to hear what we have to say, especially when our words don't match our actions. But some of them will respond to the unexplainable things we do for them just because we love them. One of the first contemporary Christian songs I learned, way back when I was a young teen, says "They'll know we are Christians by our love." Perhaps it's time to ask ourselves that question--Will they? Will they know we are Christians by our love?
American Christians can no longer be complacent about our faith. We need to study God's Word diligently, spend time with him daily in prayer, worship together wholeheartedly with other believers. We need to ask God what he wants us to do now. We need to ask him to show us how to love the unlovable people around us. It's time to listen for his voice. Then, it's time to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. It's time to do what he says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...and...Love your neighbor as yourself."
If I went to a friend's house for a meal, I expected that we would pray before we ate, and we usually did. We always said our prayers at bedtime, too. We believed in God. Everyone did, or so it seemed. We practiced Christian values. We knew lots of Bible stories. We could recite the Ten Commandments and John 3:16. No one told us we couldn't pray in school, but it didn't really matter to us, because praying was something we did at home at mealtime and bedtime, and in church on Sundays. No one I knew worked too hard to be a Christian, because Christianity was our way of life. We lived in a Christian country. We were Christians.
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| Danny and me, all ready for church on Easter morning |
I had believed in God for as long as I could remember. If you had asked me, I would have told you, even as a four-year-old, that I believed that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins, and rose from the dead three days later, so I could live in heaven with him someday. I was a young teenager before I realized that Christianity was more than just a comfortable way of life. That's when I began to pray and read my Bible in earnest. I really wanted to know Jesus personally.
He did not fail me then. He let me know just how much he loved me. He let me know that he would always be with me.
Oh, he didn't speak to me out loud, but I heard his voice, just the same, as I read his Word, the Bible, and as I listened for his guiding voice when I prayed. And I began to learn that Christianity is so much more than a secure, American way of life. Christianity is all about relationship, with God and with all the people around us. Jesus summed it up for us when he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22: 37-39)
Just lately, I've heard that some Christians, in far-away countries in Africa and Asia, laugh at American Christians. They question our Christianity, quoting that Bible verse, from Matthew 19:24, where Jesus said that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." We forget that we Americans are all very rich. When we compare ourselves to the poorest people of the world, even the poorest Americans are rich in comparison. And, because we have lots of stuff, it is easy for us to forget how much we need God every day. The people in our world who have nothing, who don't know where their next meal is coming from, whose children are naked because they have no clothes, those are people who know just how much they need God. That's why Christianity is growing rapidly in the poorest nations of the world. People who have few material possessions are excited to hear about a great God who loves them. They are eager to depend on him for everything they need.
Here in America, we are pretty good at depending on ourselves, or on government programs, to provide what we need. It's no wonder that more and more Americans are forsaking Christianity, and making fun of Christians who speak out about their faith. Christian values are beginning to disappear. We seem to have a new law in the land, and it's no longer based on the Ten Commandments.
Americans who are not Christians are not content to sit and listen to someone preach at them. They really don't want to hear what we have to say, especially when our words don't match our actions. But some of them will respond to the unexplainable things we do for them just because we love them. One of the first contemporary Christian songs I learned, way back when I was a young teen, says "They'll know we are Christians by our love." Perhaps it's time to ask ourselves that question--Will they? Will they know we are Christians by our love?
American Christians can no longer be complacent about our faith. We need to study God's Word diligently, spend time with him daily in prayer, worship together wholeheartedly with other believers. We need to ask God what he wants us to do now. We need to ask him to show us how to love the unlovable people around us. It's time to listen for his voice. Then, it's time to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. It's time to do what he says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...and...Love your neighbor as yourself."
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