Friday 18 March 2016

Your Witness

Your Witness
Frequently I wear tee shirts with various sayings on them. One of them says,
“Let praise be your 
HABIT 
Rejoice in the LORD always and again I say rejoice”
                                                                                                               Phillipians 4:4.
The word habit is quite often mistaken for Hobbit, as in Lord of the rings. It causes people to take a second look.
Today I was in my local Tim Hortons, Canada’s best known coffee shop. The girl at the counter seen it and asked if I was serious. I said yes that I do my best for God each day. She said quote, “that’s cool. I like that.”
Unfortunately there was no more time to talk to her because she had her job to do. Still for a brief moment she thought about God.
My prayer for her is that she’ll remember what she seen and that she’ll want to know more about God.
Sometimes it’s the little things that point people to or from God. The things we don’t realize we are doing.
Francis of Assisi said,
“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today” 
                                                                                                         Francis of Assisi.
What is your sermon, your actions, telling people?
There’s an old story that goes like this.
A policeman pulled over a car. On the back of which were bumper stickers saying “Jesus loves you”, “Jesus is the way to heaven”, “Jesus is Lord”.
When the officer pulled over the man he asked for the usual, man’s drivers licence, proof of insurance and ownership.
The man asked the officer why he’d pulled him over. To which the officer replied, “you made an illegal right turn. You failed to come to a complete stop at the stop sign, and you were driving twenty kilometres over the speed limit.
With all those bumper stickers on the car I was worried the car was stolen.”
As Christians we need to be careful how we conduct our lives. We need to be careful what we say and do.
Francis of Assisi was right when he said,
“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today” 
                                                                                                          Francis of Assisi.
That is true. The world is watching Christians. And a great light is shining on us. If we believe what Jesus said,
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
         John 14:6.
We are Christ’s representatives on this earth and we must live a life and lifestyle worthy of Him.
Your actions dear Christian may determine the eternal resting place of the people you come in contact with.
As Christians we need to take to heart the word of Jesus who said,
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” 
Matthew 7:12.
We need to follow the teachings of Christ who when asked,
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                                            Matthew 22:36-40.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” 
                                                                                                            Matthew 5:43,44.
Our lives need to be reflecting that of Christ each and every day.
If you are a believer in Christ take a few moments now to look at your life, your habits ask God to show you how others see you.
Please think about it.

No comments: