On The Borderline

When you read the Bible, there are two messages about ones faith. It talks about the importance of evangelism (spreading the word of God and bringing others to Christ.) And how it is our duty to show the glory of God through how we live out our lives. But it also talks about how we need to be careful in the ways we show our faith. To not do so just to be recognized by our neighbors, or abide by laws created by man and not God (i.e. woman must wear a dress to church.) So where is the line that separates the two? How can you tell which is which?

Really it comes down to motive. Why do we do what we do? The Pharisees chose to fast and pray in public. They walked the streets and screamed in the synagogs. And they did this because other people were watching. Because what was important was being called wise, and pious and a righteous man. They were thinking about the adoration of their fellow human beings.Therein lies the problem, they wanted the approval of man, not God. The approval we seek should not be that of man. It should not matter to us what our neighbors think of our Christianly status. We should not be doing these things so that men will look up in awe at us. We should be doing these things so that men look up in awe of God. So that they will see his splendor and majesty. So that they will read the word and what it teaches and marvel at what it says. People did not practice their faith in secret so that their neighbors can say “oh what great men those are!” they did not seek their name to be placed in a history book as a man who fought the law that oppressed him. They are fully aware that doing such a thing must be anonymous and remain that way. That history will never remember them. They do not care that history will not remember them. Because what matters to them is that they show their devotion to God. That they do not lose sight of their faith or abandon him. That is the kind of Christian we should be like.

But this does not mean that we forgo showing our faith and evangelizing. We do not refuse to do anything in public for fear of becoming a show off. All that it means is we have to look at the reasons why, not simply the how. In the end, the how is not important. What if the man who practices in private does so to say to himself “I am truly righteous”? Or the man in public is truly devoted to God? In the end, all that matters is why you do what you do. The border is not one of action, but of motive.

-BlackFox

(488)