Be Consistent
"If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"
That was a great question for Paul to ask Peter, and it's a question we need to consider ourselves (in a slightly different context). This specifically relates to how so-called Christians live vs non-believers. So if you, being a Christian, live like a non-believer, how can you force or expect non-believers to live like Christians?
There have been too many times that I've heard a church-going Christian, lament the way the world is today. They grumble and complain about how inconsiderate people are these days, how messed up people's beliefs are, how out of order people's priorities are. But many also fail to be kind to their unbelieving neighbor, to actually live out what they claim to believe and to give God control and priority over their own wants and desires.
Expecting a non-believer to think and behave like a Christian is just foolish. Only true believers behave like Christians. However, the unfortunate truth is that we like to hold an unbelieving world to the same standards we don't even live up to. Let's start living up to the standard of Christ ourselves and stop forcing or expecting others (who don't even believe yet) to do it.
Created over 1 year ago
