Carefully Watched

When the world looks at Christians, what does it see?

On Sunday, our sermon was about the pitfalls for people who seek status in the world. It came from Luke, Chapter 14, and centered around people trying to get a spot at the head table. It was a good sermon. But, as the pastor read the scripture, the very first verse stuck with me, so much so, that I jotted it down.

Jesus went to eat at the house of a prominent Pharisee, the religious people of the day. They would most likely translate in modern terms to people who are regular church goers, who thought they were in the know, righteous, and living a holy life.

The part that caught my attention was, “he was being carefully watched.” That’s in the second part of the very first verse.

We can find phrases like that throughout the Gospels. Jesus was always being “carefully or closely watched,” but not for reasons we might think.

Most of the religious people of the time were not seeking to learn from Him or to emulate Him; they were seeking to trap Him. They were hoping to catch Him breaking Jewish laws. They were seeking to disprove his goodness, His Godliness.

When I think about how the world looks at Christians today, don’t we find the same pattern?

The word Christian, from the Greek, means follower of Christ.

When the secular world looks at Christians, what does it see? What does it seek to see? What do we show it?

Jesus’ three year ministry, consisted of a lot of prayer, a lot of time in the synagogue, a lot of teaching, a lot of healing, a lot of compassion and a lot of community. He did seem to get frustrated from time to time when people refused to listen. He got downright angry when people were using His Father’s house to make money. He also exhibited lots of patience and forgiveness.

When we go through our daily lives and we claim to be Christians, what does the world see? How do we behave at work? How do we treat the cashiers we come into contact with? How do we act when we are driving down the road? How do we treat our family members? How do we treat our neighbors? How do we react to the homeless guy on the street?

The world carefully watched Jesus when He was on earth. The world carefully watches His followers today. Are we carefully watching Jesus? Are we seeking to emulate Him?

What is it that we are showing the secular world that would make the people in it, want to become one of us?

Jesus wants our hearts, not our lip service. Our faith is one of free will. What are we doing to share with this sometimes dark world, the beautiful light and love of Christ?

The answers of course are as individual as every person who reads this, but in the end, we are all called to do something, to be a walking, living, advertisement and invitation, to be a part of the Greatest Story ever told.

A Bible verse reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂