Are You An Example?

Everyone, whether we like it or not, serves as an example for someone else. At work or at home or at church or in the grocery store, someone is using you as an example. Unfortunately at times, our choices and motives determine whether we are a good or bad one. Truth be told, as Christians we know there is only one good example and you aren't him (and neither am I) but how we choose to live out that truth is one of the keys to an effective and honest witness. I think it is true without question, that a grace-filled Christian, who lives in liberty, is a better example of Jesus to the lost than the mindset of many Christians, who believe we obey in order that God might be pleased with us. The difference is easy to spot.

The grace-filled Christian's obedience flows from a gratitude that they are being used at all, and a supernatural desire to love others as they have been loved. Because of this, their acts of service flow from their gratitude to Christ, and their true righteousness manifests as acts of other-centered love. The legalist mindset attempts (unsuccessfully, I might add) to follow the law perfectly, because many times they genuinely believe the lie that says this is how we please God. This mindset, with it's inherent self-centeredness, will cause a fear-driven pseudo-obedience that flows from a false belief that God's approval is somehow based on their obedience to God's law. It will cause these folks, like the Priest and the Levite (interesting that Jesus chose the "religious" people) in the story Jesus told about the Good Samaritan, to avoid God's work right in front of them if there may be a trap that might make them stumble. Where is their faith? Who is their faith in? This not only short-changes the work of God to those in need, it also makes for uptight saints who are generally judgmental and unhappy. That doesn't remind me of Jesus at all!