They will know we are Christians by our bumper stickers.


"They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. They will know we are Christians by our love"
-By Our Love, For King and Country

I was halfway through singing along to this song on the radio when someone cut me off in traffic. Granted, I went out the day after Christmas, so that's on me. But still. I was appropriately peeved. The other driver pulled out in front of me suddenly and crossed into the lane next to me, almost causing me to rear end him.

"LEARN TO DRIVE!" I yelled, startling my little sister who hadn't seen what had just happened.

As soon as the words left my mouth it struck me that the last words out before then had been they will know we are Christians by our love.

Something doesn't compute.

"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit."  (Proverbs 15:1-4)

I've been really convicted lately about my words and today was no exception, although slightly more humorous than my usual quick-tempered spouting. The irony of it was striking to me. If I was really thinking about the words that came out of my mouth as I sung them, I would have restrained the next words I spoke.

If they will are to know we are Christians, it must be by our words. Our actions too of course, but they are linked.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)

Our hearts create our words, and our words must tell of Christ. Words and actions are how we show love.

And they will know we are Christians by our love.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When the Writing gets tough..

Lately, my muse has been missing. I'm not sure when it decided to leave me and dry, but I've been on a search for my muse for a few days now. I am restless and the muse will not be found. For months now, I've been knee deep in edits and rewrites for my second book, Underground, which was originally released last year, but after being a complete and utter flop, I pulled it from the digital shelves and embarked on a harrowing journey of rediscovering who these characters are and what they will accomplish. I have now added 10,000 words to the original story, added and removed characters and done a better job of building the story itself. I know its better than it was, I know it is. So why do I look at my document and think it could be so much better? Answer: I am a human being, and humans seem to do a really good job of doubting themselves, even when they are doing a legitimately good job. We look at our creations and we OCD them to death. Just once, just ONCE, I would
Read more

The Immersion Method

Several things occur to me when I think about the method I'm using to learn French. The first-I'm never going to succeed. The second-I think I've heard of this before.  The method I'm talking about is the Immersion method, meaning that you basically 'immerse' yourself in the language, surrounding yourself with almost exclusively that language, and you learn out of necessity. This is the same way that children learn their first language, by doing. It  sounded promising, so I decided to give it a shot. I switched my facebook page to french. Bold move, yes, but desperate times call for desperate measures. In addition, I found french episodes of my favorite cartoons ever in the history of the world-courtesy of the wonder known as youtube, of course.  In order to learn a language by the immersion method, you almost have to forget about thinking about anything else and only focus on the language.  This reminded me of Christianity. Why? well, think about it. In
Read more

I will live for my child

 “I would die for my child.” A well-known, often said sacrificial statement. I didn’t really know how my fierce love for my child would manifest until the first time she was extremely upset and I didn’t know why.  Readers, I would have cut off a finger to console my baby.  I would die to protect her.  Both are strong, love-filled sentiments. And both, God willing, are unnecessary.  But there’s a daunting task that is absolutely necessary. At times it needs to be a conscious decision. Sometimes it’ll require taking care of yourself so that you can better care for your child. Sometimes, for some, it will literally seem harder to do than to die for your child.  It’s living for your child.  Postpartum depression can sneak up on anyone, and I’ve heard heartbreaking stories of just how deeply it affects moms. Good moms. Awesome moms It’s too early to tell for me, but unfortunately, I have almost every risk factor there is. But I also have a rocking support system and wonderful physicians loo
Read more