THE WORLD IS WATCHING US

Sometime ago I wrote an article entitled “The mark of a Christian.”  The teaching was one that Jesus gave in John 13:34-35 where he said that the world would be able to tell what a genuine Christian looks like because they love one another.The epitome of maturity for the Christian is to have the same attributes that Jesus showed us as he laid down His life for us.

If the world can easily recognize a real Christian, most certainly people can easily recognize immature one. 
Have you ever heard this expression or maybe even voiced it yourself?  “If that is what a Christian is like, I don’t want to be one.”  This is a very honest yet indicting statement.
Unfortunately mature Christians are easily outnumbered by immature ones and their behavior inaccurately portrays the image that most people observe.
The fruit of mature Christians establishes God’s credibility in the world’s eyes and conversely His credibility is discounted by the behavior of the immature ones.
Paul confronts this serious issue as he writes to the Corinthian church.  In I Corinthians 3:3 he tells this church, “You are still worldly, for since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?”
What are the improprieties in the church that the world so easily sees and repels form? Paul summed them up with two words; jealousy and quarreling.
The two most successfully used tools of the Devil used to keep the church from bringing the light of the gospel to a dark and dying world are these two weapons.
We all have met and know people who have never matured, never grown beyond wielding the destructive swords of jealousy and quarreling.
The number of casualties that have succumbed to these two weapons are too numerous to count.
Martin Luther made a profound statement once that has haunted the church ever since.  He said, “The only two days that really count in our lives, are This Day and That Day.” This Day refers to today, and That Day refers to the day that we all stand before The Judgment Seat of Christ and give an account for the things that we did on This Day. You can read about it in the rest of I Corinthians chapter three.
John, the disciple of Jesus, sums up the issue on I John 2:28 where he tells us that we all must grow to maturity so that when we stand before Him on That Day we will be confident and unashamed before Him at his coming.
Folks, let us put off childish behavior and grow up so that we will be able to stand before Him with our heads held high having fought the good fight. HALLELIJAH!