Yesterday I had the opportunity to see Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution, Jesus for President) speak at a church here in Portland. He is full of so much wisdom and passion. One thing he said really stuck with me, though.
He was talking about how there were people who wanted to know if he was the One. Instead of saying yes or no, Jesus told them to look at the things they saw; the blind seeing, the lepers being healed.. basically “what do YOU think?”
Shane then shared how as Christians, we should be like that. If people said “are you a Christian,” we would say “what do YOU think?” and our actions, like Christ’s, should back it up.
If we are living our lives fully committed to God and letting him smear himself all over every aspect of our lives, then we could say “what do YOU think?” and people could then reason “they love, they are accepting, they are full of grace, they are humble.. they are probably a Christian!”
unfortunately, we are so unlike Christ that the reasons people might not be sure of our Christianity are reasons that make us so much like the world we are trying to detach ourselves from – greed, impatience, judgement, slander.. none of those things are anything like our Jesus.