Christianity Not Perfection

We were never meant to be perfect.

Only God is perfect. In the Bible it says that God made Adam in His image. Adam was a shadow, a reflection of God here on Earth. We've all looked in the mirror and we know that even though it's a pretty good representation,  it is not us. No matter what Mulan thinks! ( If you got that reference I am so proud of you! ) We were meant to be close to perfection,  we are called to be a light on the world. Salt of the earth,  representing God. I know that not all of my readers are Christian but I hope you still get something out of this post. We're not perfect, so how are we supposed to represent our Father?

1 Timothy 4:12

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith in purity."

We are examples of Christ so, even though I've beaten this idea over the head with an ugly stick. God tests us a lot and these tests are to make sure that we can show up and show out as Christians even when nothing seems to be going our way. Last night, I was at a conference. It was a pretty fun conference but as a volunteer I know that nothing was seeming to go as planned. People were late, people were getting lost and we were all pretty worried about attendance BUT God made a way. We started almost an hour late than scheduled but somehow managed to end on time even though we went through the schedule in its entirety. It's like when God made time stop in the Old Testament. That's how it felt. And we could have yelled, gotten frustrated or even left but we didn't. We all stayed and got to know someone knew and fellowship and worship in a way that would have been different if there were hundreds of people like there were last year. Through that stress and headache we all wore smiles and people's hearts were touched by the power of Jesus Christ. We were an example to those around us. We had the faith to keep going.

I know that's not a great example but still. Real life happens to everybody. Young, old, beautiful, ugly, perky or rude. We all come across situations that we can't handle but we have to stand up tall. And like the verse says, it doesn't matter if we're young. We are the light of this world, so shine like the tub after using Ajax!

You can be a good person without being a Christian.

Every one has the potential to be a good person. But as a Christian, it is our job to represent God's unconditional love by being kind, gentle, loving and understanding. Why? Because that is what God would want us to do. This ties into my post about being a witness. We are living, and while we are living we should the living for Christ. We should show the world that Christianity doesn't mean perfection. We still are tempted, sometimes we fall, sometimes it seems like nothing is ever going to change. Sidebar: Christianity does NOT mean the end of your problems. In fact, your problems will most likely get a whole lot worse because the enemy wants to wear you down, but we can't be defeated. We walk in the authority. I have some other things to do, but I suggest listening to some songs such as Never Quit by Benjah and Young by Andy Mineo.

Here's another by Dee-1 I'm Not Perfect

Be A Witness

We are not called to witness. We are called to be witnesses.

We are living epistles read of all men. We are both the light and the salt on the earth. And we will always have people watching us hoping to criticize us for that one mistake. It is all a part of being a Christian. That;s not the issue, the issue comes in when we claim to be followers of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, but we don't live like him at all. That's just plain hypocritical ad we all know how much Jesus disliked the actions of the hypocritical Pharisees (throwing tables and all that).

What makes a witness? It isn't as hard as one may think. We have to help people and even if we never go out and evangelize all over the globe, there are people we can minister in our own towns. Not everybody has been given the gift of being a people person, trust me. God did NOT give me that gift. However, I can still show people the glory of God without taking the fist step and walking up to a stranger like, "Do you know my Lord, Jesus Christ?". For those of you who are like me we must make sure that people see God's glory through us. We are His temple are we not?

As tough as it is we have to try and inspire people to get to know God through our lifestyle. That doesn't mean we have to be perfect but it does mean that we pray, read His Word, love our neighbors and show mercy to our enemies. I know it's hard. I was so angry at a coworker this past Friday that it made me physically sick and I had to leave. Luckily, I didn't punch her in the face like I wanted to. Sometimes we have to walk away when it gets tough so that we don't make the wrong decision. I learned recently though that I should never let someone else have that much control over my emotions so I am still working on that. Anyway, back to witnessing. Everyone loves a friend but how many people can show the same affection for an enemy? It gets easier and when we start doing that people are going to notice the change and get a little curious. 

Once this happens don't be all extra-Christian. We are trying to win people to the kingdom, not creep them out. Talk to them about God and if you need to read up on apologetics. People usually ask why there is evil in the world. My answer to this question is free will. There would be no such thing as evil if God hadn't given us the choice and if Adam and Eve had never chosen to eat the apple but they did.

Even if there are those who never outright ask you about your faith, they are watching everything you do and they should be able to tell if you are a Christian. If someone asks why you are dressed up on a Sunday and you respond that it's because of church you should get offended if they say, "I didn't know you were a Christian". I mean, how can we be an example like in 1 Timothy 4:12 if we are out here doing the exact same thing the world is doing. Think about it ans share your comments below. If you have any examples about being a witness or ways people can witness in their everyday life I would love to know. Post it below.

And since we are called to act Christ-like, here is a little song for inspiration.

Witness by God's Servant