What Does "Christian" Look Like To The Unsaved?

Islam thinks Catholic is Christian, so they behead Catholic church goers in their own countries. Modern Christendom can hardly figure out what Christianity is, how can we expect non-believers to be able to discern what is Christian and what is not.

The unsaved world is working to eliminate all vestiges of what they think are the Christian symbols, when in fact, God never told us to have those symbols in the first place.

When we walk by faith with Christ living in us no symbol could add to that in any way. Perhaps the need for symbols is a lack of faith, the desire to see and touch something diminishes faith. The stronger we are in the Lord, the less we need any artifact to make us feel spiritual.

If we were to take a close look at the way the apostles conducted themselves, the things they spoke about and what they were committed to, I am quite sure we would not find any of the modern celebrations in their lives, nor do we see symbols and artifacts to remind us of God.

When I am at lunch with my husband, there is no need to look at a picture of him, he is right there. Is it not true that Christ lives in us, the symbols detract from attention to the real God that lives in us, while focusing on the artifact instead.

If we want to go back to the beginning of the first century church to learn the simple unadulterated gospel, we would have to be willing to clean off all the dross of modern holidays, symbols and rituals to focus entirely on Christ in us.

Man made traditions may not destroy the believer but they are a distraction for sure. When is the last time we saw churches filled up and overflowing for a prayer meeting the way we see the masses on Christmas or Easter morning. The prayer meetings and the Lord's supper, the celebration that Christ commanded us to observe are neglected while the "feel good, slap happy" holidays are embarrassed with a fervor that rivals the ball games.

When we are raised with something in our lives for all of our life, it becomes so much a part of us that a sense of foreboding and abandonment comes over us when we decide to no longer indulge, somewhat like a drug addict or alcoholic. There is a sense of withdrawal, a lingering loneliness that must be overcome through prayer and Scripture reading.

I don't tell anyone to stop celebrating their holidays, because they must pray and decide for themselves what God wants of them. All I want to do is get people to ponder why they do it, where it came from and ask the Lord if He is pleased with it. while being willing to discard what He says does not honor Him.

All of us have issues with something, the holidays are even more difficult because the entire culture indulges, we might be left out, neglected and ignored if we do not participate. Non-participation in cultural holidays can get very lonely. Those who don't understand will mock, demean and reject those who have chosen not to partake, perhaps even gossip about us because we decide to walk a different path than everyone else.

One thing is for sure, when we choose to follow Christ, counter to our culture there will be a price to pay, usually involves the loss of relationships.

May we walk the path God has for us no matter who will dislike it, who will criticize it or who will punish us for our decision.

Deuteronomy 5:33 "You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess."

Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Micah 6:8 "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

James 4:8 "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. "

Colossians 2:6 "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,"

Psalm 37:3-4 "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

When we delight ourselves in the Lord, our desires will line up with His desires and we will be content with whatever is God's will. We do not see in the Word of God anything that says God will give you what YOU want. He promises to give us our desires when they line up with His desires. Hallelujah!!!!

Spiritual Attacks

Today more than ever there is a spiritual attack on the souls of believers. Those who desire to follow hard after Christ, seeking His Word for truth, will be battered and beaten emotionally and spiritually for their intense fervor. 

 

We see it every day now, the overt and sometimes covert methods used to demean and destroy our witness and the message we bring to the unsaved, as well as the truths of Scripture to the believer for their edification and growth in holiness.

 

Everyone who is seeking the Lord for everything will be able to see these tactics while most around them will not see it and often take the side of the oppressor to remain in the good graces of the perpetrator of evil. Being accepted by the ungodly is more important to these people than knowing truth and executing justice.

 

The devil is very clever, he will tell half truths as apposed to out and out lies, because it is harder to correct something when there is partial truth in it, the onlookers believe the half truth because of the small amount of truth in it.

 

There was a relative many years ago that reported to a family member that their sister had been at a bar drinking one Saturday afternoon. The unbelievers loved this because they knew this woman was a strong Christian that didn't hang out at bars. Seeing this as an opportunity to devalue the believer by pointing out her hypocrisy, they reported to others that the sister was at a bar on a Saturday afternoon, the woman was shunned and revile by others in the family based on this one testimony.

 

What the observer didn't know was that the woman had gone into town to attend a sale in a shop across the street from the bar. Since it was a good sale, the parking lot of the shop was filled to overflowing. No parking spots were available so this woman went across the street to park her car. She was not at the bar, she was at a sale, nothing was wrong, nothing was hypocritical, all was well, but the gossip mongers in the family wanted to believe the lies so when the woman was given an opportunity to tell her side everyone had already made the decision to believer the liar and mock the woman, they chose to believe the liar even after evidence was given for the truth.

 

This is one of those situations that God tells us not to judge, because those who saw her car really didn't know what was going on. Had those who saw the car there, asked her why her car was there, she could have dispelled any and all questions showing that she was innocent of any wrong. If the gossiper had looked more closely they would have noticed the bar was closed and there were only a few car in the lot, all of which were there for the sale.

 

One of the tactics of the gossips is to refuse to ask questions to clear up matters, they believe what they think they see and then act upon that misinformation as though it were fact. Not only do they shun the one for which they have contempt, they must bring others into their lie as support, it somehow validates their assumptions. Assumptions are the favored mode of operation for those who want to demean and devalue the believer.

 

One test as to the value of a friendship is whether or not they want to find out truth by asking us in a calm and loving way, "Hey, I saw your car at the bar, what was it doing there, I know you don't drink at bars?" 

 

You see someone who knows our character and loves us would assume the best and ask to make sure. Then when someone else comes along to assume wrong, we will be able to correct them and stop the gossip in it's tracks.

 

Assumptions are made because of a prejudice against those who are devalued. Why not assume that the person must not have been doing what we thought we saw or had a good reason? The reason a person assumes the worst is because they want to believe evil things or they would clear it all up by asking. 

 

Common tactics of the devil are deception, division, diversion and discouragement. (from an article called "Four Common Tactics of the Devil) All of these tactics were used in the story of the woman who parked her car in the bar parking lot. 

 

We cannot stop those who are gossipers, who love to destroy relationships, but we can be careful not to be a gossiper. It is one thing to tell the truth when we know all the facts and quite another to see something and concoct a story around very little information or based on the musings of others without any personal knowledge.

John 8:44 "44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

 

1 John 4:1-3 "4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world."

 

Ephesians 6:12 "12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

 

Our response to these attacks will strengthen us or weaken us. When we are attacked in this way, we can calmly tell the truth, after which the hearer is responsible for what they do with it. If no one will listen, then we are to walk away, leaving it to God to handle, but be sure that continued contact with people who want to believe the worst about us, is not advisable. 

 

2 Corinthians 6:14 "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?"

 

We might want to consider breaking fellowship with those who do not gossip but believe the gossiper. There can be no value in a relationships that is not understanding, loyal and loving. We can always pray for our enemies, but that does not necessarily mean contact with them.

 

Matthew 10:28 "28 Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

 

Luke 6:21-23

"…21"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

22"Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

23"Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets."

 

When we go through all these things, it teaches us lessons, one of the most important lessons, is to trust God in it and the second important lesson is to let it roll off, I am still learning this lesson. It isn't that we don't hurt when it happens, but over time as we understand better what we are up against, that it is the devils we fight against in prayer, we can "feel" less and "think" more.

 

We can observe what people are doing but not allow it to penetrate our soul. When we see that we are on our way to the Lord shortly, we can see these trials as training experiences full of knowledge and wisdom if we don't allow ourselves to camp on the emotion. The emotion will hide the lesson while obscuring the wisdom, leaving us weak and ineffective. Emotions are fleshly, they are neither hear nor there, except can be very misleading often. It is best to work past them to "reason" rather than "feel", and our reason must come from God's Word and communication with Him.

 

The devil uses emotion to destroy good sense. Those who come against us are being used by the devil, not realizing it, they are his mouthpiece. When we know this we can love them from afar while praying for their soul.

 

Proverbs 29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back."

 

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

 

Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

 

Galatians 5:16-24

"16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

 

Don't let the devil ruin your witness by giving into his wiles, when he controls our emotion, then so do his minions, they love this, sort of like kicking a person while they are down, it makes them feel powerful, it feeds their energy.  If the devil can cause us to appear unloving, he will use that to discredit Christ.