BELIEVING BEHAVIOR

A wise person once observed that if we want to know what a person believes, all we have to do is observe that person’s behavior. We live out what we believe. If we profess that we are Christians, that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, as we do every time we say the Creed, then, obviously, our behavior will attest to that belief. Obviously! But does it? The truth is, it does not. No exceptions.

Does that mean that there are no true Christians, that no one fully lives out what a follower of Jesus demands: that we love God above all else and love our neighbor as we love ourself? Well, yes. There are no perfect Christians. Never were, never will be, no matter how saintly we are or anyone else was or is. We are all sinners and we fall short in living out what we say we believe, and we fall short every day.

For me, personally, and I can only speak for me, when someone tells me or anyone else that he or she is a Christian, a red flag goes up. Why do you have to tell me that, I silently ask? Should not your behavior attest to your Christianity? Are you saying that what you say and do Jesus would confirm as something he would agree with? Publicly proclaiming to be a follower of Jesus assumes that to be true.

Okay, okay. I’ll be honest. I get angered at politicians who proclaim Christian values and then do all they can to make life even more difficult for those whom Jesus placed first in his ministry: the last, the least and the lost of this society and world. Remember the judgment scene in the parable in Mathhew 25? We will be judged come judgment day on how we treated these people.

Of course, it’s easy to judge another’s words and actions. And I do, I do. But Jesus isn’t concerned so much about how I judge another, but about how honest I am about my own actions. Does my behavior attest to what I profess to believe? Am I as concerned about those people Jesus was concerned about as he was?  In all honesty, the answer is that I am not. That is not to say that I am not concerned. It is to say that I do not do enough or certainly could do more.

I am not alone. We all fall short in living out what we profess to believe. Acknowledging that truth is first and foremost. What follows is trying each day to live out our faith more fully than the day before. Sometimes we will. Sometimes we will fail. We should be thankful when we do and be sorry when we do not. It simply means that, if you are like me, we need to be more aware of how our words and actions reveal about who we are and what we believe.

The early church grew only because people saw how those who called themselves followers of Jesus lived out their faith and belief in him. Their belief was known by their behavior. The same is true for us.