Life's Purpose

Is there a purpose to life?

I’ve spent much of my life debating that very question. I cannot consult statistics or scientific studies to answer it. So I do everything I can to keep my mind away from it. But all of life’s distractions don’t eliminate the moments when my mind wanders to the meaning of life, the ultimate purpose to our existence. 

Some years ago I was in Texas visiting my family. One specific day I remember; my cousins and I were having a blast. We played basketball, threw the baseball around and visited a local ice cream parlor. At the end of the day I went for a run, and while running I came up to a clearing where the land was vacant. I looked into the clear night sky and was stopped dead in my tracks. I sat in the grass for at least a half an hour staring into space, looking at all the stars, losing every bit of courage I thought I had. 

As I looked at the vast amount of starts, I felt myself grow smaller and smaller, until I felt reduced to a small piece of dust. I sat there bewildered, barely able to think, 'Why am I here? What is the purpose of all this!?'

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But who are these questions for?

I finished my run and went back to my cousin’s house. We played a few board games and had a great time. For a few moments I didn't feel so small, so insignificant. But as I laid in bed a feeling of despair, like a dense fog, started to seep in through the windows. My feelings brought to mind a monologue in Arthur Miller’s play After The Fall;

'But underlying it all, I see now, there was a presumption. That I was moving on an upward path toward some elevation, where—God knows what—I would be justified, or even condemned—a verdict anyway. I think now that my disaster really began when I looked up one day—and the bench was empty. No judge in sight. And all that remained was this endless argument with oneself—this pointless litigation of existence before an empty bench. Which, of course, is another way of saying—despair.' (Arthur Miller, After The Fall)

I started to reason with myself about the purpose of life and the existence of a judge: 'If there is no judge on the bench then I'm engaging in an endless, pointless argument with myself that I am worthy of something; if there is no judge then there is no justice for the atrocities I hear on the news. So what point is there to be morally good? Is there such a thing as morals? Is there such a thing as finding a purpose in life?' If there is no judge then there is no purpose to our existence because no matter how hard I work, or how much I fight for justice, nothing will ever be completely justified.

But I still feel like there is a deeper meaning to life, and I still feel a sense of injustice that tugs at my heart. Can these seemingly universal feelings and thoughts just be random chemical reactions in our brain?

If there is no god to judge us, or even if there is a god that just doesn't care about us, then evolution should have taken its course thousands of years ago to eradicate any thoughts or desires of social and political justice. Evolution should have rid all feelings of guilt or remorse. Evolution should have corrected our mind's’ tendency to pursue our own purpose in life. If there is no god to judge, then there is nothing logically or morally wrong with anything.

So why do we feel a need for justice or a desire to be better people?

There has to be something more, something that allows us to feel like we can make a difference. 

Maybe God created all of this. Maybe He is the one who placed us on this earth with ideas of purpose and justice. Maybe He is waiting for us to acknowledge Him so He can show us our purpose. 

To find our purpose we have to pursue justice. Check out the next post for what the Bible teaches about being a part of the justice of God.

Living a Better Story

I like watching movies. And while I specifically like movies that have action, I am also a firm believer that everyone enjoys a good love story. For example, the first time I watched the Notebook I was in a dorm full of male athletes; by the end of the film there was not one dry eye. There is just something about the last scene when Alli remembers Noah, forgets him, screams as he tries to comfort her, and they later [spoiler alert] die together in their sleep. That makes for a good story.

Needless to say, I'm an emotional movie watcher. I often find myself tearing up even in the most action packed movies. I even cry while reading books or stories online. But not until just recently did I stop to wonder why I cry while reading or watching a movie. 

Years ago I read a few of Donald Miller's books, which led me to follow Storyline blog. Many of the posts on the blog are centered on what makes a good story and how we need to live a better story, so naturally I started to read more about stories and the characteristics of a good story.

During this period of research, I was just starting to figure out what career path I wanted to take. I knew that in every good story the main character wants something, so I started dreaming about all the things I wanted to do and accomplish. Here is a short list of them:

• Live in a big city, like NYC or LA
• Live in Africa
• Learn how to speak Spanish and French
• Play Professional Baseball
• Publish a best selling book
• Pastor a giant church where members are seriously passionate about Jesus
• Be in a movie

I could end up doing all of these things (although some tasks are more realistic than others). Occasionally I look for job openings in various areas of the world, and for local baseball tryouts. I even try to learn foreign languages from the students I work with (I know six words in Swahili, seven words in French, and three phrases in Spanish). 

But if I'm being honest, all of my dreams and desires seem so far away and it makes me feel stuck. I don't feel stuck because my life sucks; I have a beautiful, amazing wife, a wonderful newborn son, I get to teach at a diverse school, and I work for a thriving church. I just think of how cool it must have been for Pee Wee Reese as he hugged Jackie Robinson in front of a huge crowd. That was a big piece of history that paved the way for other African American athletes. I just long to be a part of something bigger. 

I feel stuck because I can't see the bigger picture.

God created us for something more, something big. But somehow we get lost in the mundane. The job, the cleaning, the bills, the sleep. Jesus tells us that we will do greater works than He did (John 14:12), but when do those works start?

This wasn’t Jewish hyperbole, because when we read into the books of Acts, Romans and beyond it becomes clear that the disciples really grabbed hold of this promise (as well as others like it) to heal people, perform wonders and various other miracles, as well as reconciling people to God, just as Jesus did when He was with them. The disciples were living out a great story that Jesus invited them into. 

They put all of their eggs in the Jesus basket. When everyone else was holding back to see if Jesus was really the Messiah, they gave 100%. Even when it went in the face of everything they had learned, they said ‘you have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”(See Mark 10:25-28, and John 6:21-68). 

I get stuck at this part. I tell myself that I am completely following Jesus, but there is always a part of me that I hold back because of the messy house and the reality of the monthly bills. Not only that, but sometimes I read the word of God and say, “this is a hard saying, who can listen to it?’ (John 6:60). I gloss over it and pick the Scriptures I want to listen to more closely. In my mind I say as the disciples said, ‘you have the words of eternal life…. And [I] have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’ but in my heart I say, ‘It's too risky and too hard to do everything He says, so I’ll just live a comfortable life just like everyone else.’

But no good story has ever had a main character that was comfortable the whole time. 

Jesus wasn’t comfortable. He took our sins upon himself, and died a horrible death. But He was also raised from the dead. Upon His resurrection, the invitation to join His story was released to everyone in the world. 

Jesus has a grand adventure planned for every single person that puts all their eggs in His basket. It's time we stopped being comfortable with the mundane and started to embrace Him as He is, the Savior of the world. 

It will not be comfortable, and it may not always be safe, but living a good story never is.

I'm challenging myself to start living a better story. The story that God planned for me. A story worthy of conflict. A story that will allow me to speak Gods grace, love and peace into a mundane world.

I hope you will accept the challenge with me.  

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Our Plan's and God's Purpose

My wife and I just became parents; Britt labored for 38 hours before they opted to perform a cesarean section. I was able to watch most of the surgery; it was pretty disgusting but also incredibly amazing. They made an incision, cut the muscles and then started stretching the incision apart. I looked away for just a moment and by the time I looked back I saw the doctors pulling out our son’s head, and then they (not so carefully) pulled the rest of our son out of Britt.  As they dabbed him with a towel he peed on the doctors. I was so proud!

The moment I looked at him I started crying, I was so overwhelmed! That’s my son! Before the surgery I was just concerned about Britt rather than anticipating the excitement of the moment. I can’t explain the instant connection I had with him. It was love at first sight.  But up until the delivery I wasn’t necessarily feeling anything at all.

Britt and I were not planning on having children until we had been married five years. I was not prepared to find out my wife was pregnant two weeks after we returned from our honeymoon. Financially we planned on paying off our debt in three years then move to New York City to continue working with urban youth. God saw fit to shatter our plans, but not without protest.

There were many nights the first few months of the pregnancy where I was praying to Jesus, asking him why he would do this to us. In my head I would say, ‘God we don’t have enough money to do this. We can hardly pay down our debt and still pay our other bills. I don’t know how we are going to do this.’ But it was in those moments late at night where I felt God reassure me, as if to say, ‘when have you ever gone through a problem that I did not help you through? I provided then, I will provide now.’ He brought to mind the name that Abraham first used in Genesis 22:14 [Jehovah Jireh] – ‘The Lord will Provide.’

From that point forward I did not question how we would do this. I decided in my spirit that no matter what happens, no matter how hard or how crazy it gets, I need not worry because God will provide for our needs. Especially when we seek first ‘His kingdom and His righteousness’ (Matthew 6:33). But it is easier said than done.

If you know my wife, you know she struggles with borderline OCD. She has a type A personality, where I am more of a laid back type. I knew that if I was worried about finances and being prepared for a baby, she must have been struggling even more than I was. A conversation at a coffee shop about our living situation confirmed my suspicion. We both wanted to be on top of things, to go to the next plan, to be in control.

We all have control issues. One of the symptoms of our need for control is planning. Not that planning in it’s self is bad, but what is bad is the fact that we put so much hope in our plans. When we found out we were pregnant our plan changed, and for us we felt stuck. So naturally we started to make different plans. All of our new plans involved getting a bigger place for our family. We even started to look into buying cheap houses, or renting 2 or 3 bedroom apartments. But the reality was we couldn’t afford to lose the security deposit and pay to break the lease. And as I informed Britt of this at the coffee shop we both felt helpless. We couldn’t make more plans yet, and Britt cried.

As we sat there together in emotional turmoil, I asked if we could pray together. Britt and I prayed for us to give up control of our lives to God, to realize that He is our provider and will help us get through this. We also thanked Jesus that we had a warm place to sleep, and asked Him to help out those who were cold.

We went from being bewildered to being thankful.

God changed our perspective, and gave us hope. We will still plan but we know that the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps (Proverbs 16:9). 

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Why Christianity?

I often wonder about Christianity. It blows my mind that there are millions of Christians in the United States, yet there seems to be a disconnect between the New Testament Christians and modern Christians. In the Bible the Christians knew what they were doing, but I'm not so sure modern Christians have the slightest idea about what the Bible says we should be doing.

As a Christian sometimes I don't know what I am doing. Sure I have all the phrases memorized that makes it look like I know what I'm doing but I'm tired. I'm tired of Church. I'm tired of telling people Christianity is a 'personal relationship with God' when really I treat Him like more of an acquaintance than a close friend. I keep him far enough away so that He doesn't change me but close enough so that I can call him when I'm in trouble.

You see what I mean? I get too busy with life that I forget to even talk with God.

Am I a Christian because I like having a 'community' of people around me? Is Christianity my medication to just get through life? Is God really there?

I get that Christianity gives hope to people who are hurting, in trouble, and who are afraid to die. But is there real hope beyond this life?

The Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament said,

"For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."(emphasis added) 1st Corinthians 15:15-19

For those who are hurting they hope that because of the death of Christ all wrongs will be made right. The people who hurt them will answer for what they have done, if they do not seek reconciliation through Christ.

There are so many injustices in the world that if there is no retribution after death, then there is little reason to even live out the rest of our lives.

Maybe Karl Marx was right when he said, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people."* 

Is it possible that Christianity is also only an opiate for people who are hurt? Are we to be pitied because of our hope in Christ? Or is there an undeniable truth to the death and resurrection of Jesus? And if Jesus has been raised from the dead, then what does that mean for us?

There is a lot of proof that Jesus did live and was killed. But so were dozens of other religious leaders who claimed to be the savior of the world around that time. So why did Jesus, and Christianity survive 2000 years after His death?

In the book of Acts in the 5th Chapter, verse 33-41, there is an incredible look into why Jesus Christ and Christianity has thrived throughout two millennium. 

"When [the religious leaders] heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill [Peter and John]. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they(Peter and John) left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name [of Jesus]."

Gamaliel had a great argument, he referenced 2 other leaders who 'claimed to be somebody' but when they were killed their followers scattered. He essentially said, "if Jesus is God, then we can't stop Him." Little did he know that when Jesus was killed all of His followers scattered, 

"And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” And they all left him and fled." (Mark 14:48-50 ESV)

But something brought his disciples back and caused them to preach and teach to thousands of people, travel around the known world, and eventually suffer horrible deaths. What would cause someone to leave Jesus and then come back to be even more courageous than they were before He died? 

Luke 24: 44-49 provides us with the backdrop of the promise of Christ to his disciples:

"Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”' (emphasis added)

But this is the stuff of fairy tales. I’ve been a Christian my whole life but I haven't been clothed with power, or seen anyone raised from the dead. I think all of the early Christians were liars.

Then again, I don't really spend that much time with God. I tell him I love him but do I really love him with all of my heart? Unfortunately, I don't; I have a family to lead, a job that keeps my schedule full, emails to respond to, bills to worry about, and countless other deadlines. Who has time to 'seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness' (Matthew 6:33a)? 

Maybe I wonder about Christianity because I’m actually not fully committed to Jesus? 

If we gave ourselves 100% to Christ the things of this world would fade away. Jesus would fill our every need. 

It may not seem safe, 'but who said anything about safe?'*     

http://www.notable-quotes.com/c/christianity_quotes.html

*Karl Marx, Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right

*C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 

Sonshine

A few months ago the ground had a pretty layer of snow covering it, preserved by the cold temperatures. Then it started to get warmer. And as the sun shone on the freezing ground, the snow started to melt. Exposing the ugly, lifeless brown grass. To be honest the snow looked prettier than the grass. You could almost sense how shameful the dead grass felt. Longing to be covered; disgusted that you could see what the ground really looked like under the pristine mask provided by the snow. 

It hurt to see the ground so weak and dead. 

The earth around my apartment was unseemly, I would sometimes tell the grass how ugly it looked, because I'm a jerk. I did this pretty often for a couple of months until recently when I noticed that the grass was not as ugly as it use to be. The grass was starting to get a little greener. 

Upon reflecting on the way I handled the grass situation, I was confronted with the reality that the grass didn't want to be exposed from under the snow because it knew that people would be mean to it and cut it down. I was cutting the grass down with my insults thinking my words would help it grow. 

Despite my insults the grass was trying to drown me out and focus on absorbing the sun. The only thing the grass needed was nutrition from the sun and encouragement from the soil. It haunts me to know that I may have hindered the grass from regaining its strength and color because of my careless words. Only because the grass was exposed, and the dead patches were made visible could the sun restore it to an even greater glory than the mask of snow could provide.

redeemyourlawn.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-lawn/

The grass outside my apartment got me thinking about how I sometimes try to cover myself up to hide my weaknesses. The truth is I don't want others to see my mistakes and think differently of me. But I know that only when I let down my walls and take off my mask can the Son really change me. 

The Son of God who died on the cross so that we didn't have to be bound by my shame anymore. He died for us to be free. If we allow the Son to shine on us, only then can we be released from our captivity and insecurity. 

“But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.  This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
  rise from the dead,
  and Christ will shine on you.”- Ephesians 5:13-14

How to Judge

Most people who have a negatively skewed sense of Christianity feel that way because of how they see Christians live. There are generally two ways a Christian can enhance the negative perception of others. The first way is to become legalistic and judge people based on rules that the other person has not put themselves under. The second way is by acting against the rules that the Christian has voluntarily put themselves under (hypocrisy). Because of these inconsistencies there has to be ways to help our brothers and sisters become better followers of Jesus and better understand the scriptures. There are a few steps to judge our brothers and sisters in a beneficial way, or better yet, steps to walk along side Christians to help them grow up in the faith. 

Embrace Humility

In order to effectively and rightly judge others the first thing we have to do is heed the words of Paul to the Church in Philippi, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; (‭Philippians 2:3 NASB)" This is vital to be faultless in our critique of our brothers and sisters. Thinking of others as more important than ourselves will allow us to put a wall of defense up against pride. Sure you may have studied the bible longer than a certain person and maybe they are completely out of line according to the bible but no one has ever become a Christian from being attacked. I am not saying that we can’t defend our faith, but what I am saying is that arguments don’t change people. If we are telling people what they are doing wrong simply because we want to be right we are not loving and we are not walking in humility. Humility requires us to listen rather than speak, come to an understanding and then guide to the truth. This mindset leads us into the first step of judging fellow Christians.

Find Out What They Know

Much of the New Testament was written to churches that needed to be taught in the ways of Scripture or had to be reminded of the truth they already knew. In knowing the early churches, seeing and hearing the things they were doing gave the New Testament writers the ability to write to the church in Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, Rome, etc, and tell them that they needed to change in certain areas. Moreover the Apostles, John, Peter, and Paul planted and taught these churches. So they already knew what the people in the church should have known and were already taught. But for us in this time we have not taught our brothers and sisters and do not know what they know so we can not easily point out where they fall short because they may not know what they are doing wrong. This is where humility comes in. We have to ‘be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;’ (James 1:19 NASB) When we listen we may be convicted in our heart that we are in the wrong, or we may be able to understand where they are coming from and where they went wrong in accordance with Scripture.

Pray Over Our Convictions

Is this conviction significant? – Am I being zealous for the wrong things (Pharisaical)? Am I putting too much weight into this issue instead of looking at the bigger picture? Will this issue take away from their relationship with God or with others? What does the scripture say about this? Is this a bigger issue than issues going on in my life?

Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3 NASB)

What is the best way to bring up the issue? – What ways could I loving show them the issue? Does this require confrontation because they have already been reminded of the truth? Can I guide them in studying scripture for them to figure out for themselves the dangers of their actions?

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, (Ephesians 4:15)

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.’ (Matthew 18:15-17)

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Our culture is a sort of ‘vulture culture’. The culture determines the significance of mistakes. If one person takes a jab at someone, the surrounding culture will quickly take more jabs at that person’s mistake. For instance, if you are a Chicago Cubs fan then Steve Bartman is a household name because of his ‘mistake’, and how that mistake prolonged the Cubs World Series drought. But the culture ignores other things that can affect more people’s lives beyond a baseball game, like political scandals, drug use, and social injustice around the world. Christians become vultures too on certain sins and certain people’s mistakes. Following the example of Jesus, we need to step out of the shadow of our culture and stick to the Bible when it comes to being graceful about people’s mistakes and putting more emphasis on things that will take away from a personal relationship with Christ. Even though people do not think certain things are worth the effort, if we test the issues with Scripture and through prayer we have to be obedient to what the Holy Spirit is leading us to say to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Judgement and Hypocrisy, Part 2

It is no secret that the Bible has a lot to say about how Christians should live, and obviously Jesus is the main example for Christians to follow. He says, ‘“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”’ (Matthew 16:24-25 ESV, emphasis added). The Greek word used for after here is opisō (BlueletterBible.org). This adverb in conjunction with the Greek verb deute is used in Matthew 4:19 and is translated as ‘follow’. The question I asked while researching this passage was why are two different words that can both be translated as ‘follow’ used in the same sentence? My thought is if we are Christians who desire to follow Jesus, then denying ourselves and following His example has double significance. John, One of Jesus’ disciples, agrees that we need to do what Christ did, ‘the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.’ (1^st John 2:6 NASB). These passages along with other scriptures show us that as we take up our Cross, we need to follow Him even in His actions and His words so as to become like Him.

As I have examined my heart in light of the above scriptures and in juxtaposition with judgment and hypocrisy I came upon a few scripture passages that struck me as odd. One passage in particular is from 1^st Corinthians 5:9-13 (NASB):

⁹ I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.¹¹ But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

While I was reading this scripture the first thing I noticed was that Paul implores us to Judge people who claim to be Christians. I noticed this because it is posed as a rhetorical question, ‘do you not judge those who are within the church?’ Paul’s question struck me as odd because our American culture emphasizes the ‘don’t judge me’ attitude, which has infiltrated our churches. So much so that the churches emphasis for the last few years has been on the verses like: Matthew 7:1-2, Luke 6:37, James 4:11-12, Romans 2:1-3 etc. These verses are incredibly important to Christians because without these verses we can become incredibly prideful in our obedience to the Bible. But with these verses people who claim to be Christians are condemned by their (our) hypocrisy. For that very reason I was put off by the rhetorical question Paul posed. With those verses being so adamant about us not judging others why does Paul encourage us to judge people who are within the church? The answer if found in another one of Paul’s letters; the letter to the Roman Church:

Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³ But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans 2:1-3 NIV, emphasis added)

The reason Paul encourages those in the Corinthian Church is because of that 3^rd verse in Romans 2. If we do not judge hypocritical Christians how can they know that they are not following Jesus? They are not denying themselves by indulging in things that they judge others for doing. For when we judge as Christ judges, we speak the truth in love. To let hypocrites know that they are being hypocritical is the most loving thing we can do for them, because we are showing them that they are condemning themselves by their own words. Jesus said some harsh things to the religious leaders because they were putting so much weight on the people and not doing anything that the Old Testament said of them to do (Matthew 23:4). Therefore if we do not judge hypocrites, they will put heavy weights on people, or push them away from Christ because of their hypocrisy and the perceived acceptance of hypocrisy by the church.

But when we talk to those outside the church we have no right to judge them because they do not claim Christianity. Therefore let us win them to Christ by our love for them and our love for our brothers who claim Christianity, just as Jesus spoke to us, ‘”As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35 ESV).’ If those outside the church first deny our testimony of Jesus in our personal lives, then as we emanate love in our actions toward others they will recognize Jesus power in our lives. That power will certainly show that we are following the example of Jesus by denying ourselves, picking up our cross and counting others as more important than ourselves (see Philippians 2:3).

To that end we must leave judgment up to Jesus, for we do not know the motivations of the heart like He does. Yet He has given us His selfless example to follow if we claim to be His.