Challenge to Christians: How Christian Are You?

[Sandra]

It is my prayer that God grant us grace to be more Christlike and that our conduct bear shining witness in this troubled world

Challenge to Christians: How Christian Are You?

 - Vasko Kohlmayer  Friday, June 24, 2011

A pointed quiz has been recently put out by a Texas-based group that calls itself Changing the Face of Christianity.

The test is aimed at Christians. It is titled How Christian You Are and it contains ten simple questions.

The questions are in multiple choice format. They ask things like how we react when times are tough or when someone cuts us off in traffic. The last question asks how often we do things secretly which would make us ashamed if found out.

For most of us, Christians, this is bound to be a convicting exercise, because it reveals how far short we fall of the ideal set by Him whom we profess to follow.

We often hear unbelievers accusing us of hypocrisy. Not infrequently they are right, since we all too often fail to live up to our confession.

As with most other Christians, there have been many times in my life when my conduct did not comport with the standard laid down by Christ. My behavior gave bad witness and that gives cause to grief.

Even though we cannot change the past, we can­with God’s help­do better in the future. But first we must acknowledge our shortcomings. This is where the value of this survey really lies, because it lays bare our insufficiency. If anything, it is a call to repentance.

We also need to ask God for the strength to act in a way ordained by Christ who wants us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

This is a hard teaching, because the natural human tendency is to love oneself above everyone else. Sometime we are good at faking otherwise, but introspection almost always produces conviction.

But thankfully we do not have to rely on our own strength as we try to live up to Christ’s injunction. God himself enables us, for the Bible says that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

When Jesus was on this earth he showed that reliance on God makes it possible not only to genuinely love one’s neighbors, but also to love one’s enemies. “Father, forgive them, for they not what they do,” he cried even as they drove nails through his hands and feet.

Even if we only approximate Christ’s example, those around us are bound to be affected, since this kind of attitude is not of this world. Whatever their criticism of Christians may be, they will not be able to say that we are hypocrites when it comes to the issue of love.

It is my prayer that God grant us grace to be more Christlike and that our conduct bear shining witness in this troubled world.

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