Today, many of us decide to call ourselves a “Christian” or “Christ-follower”, acknowledging to the world our relationship with God. And many of us don’t call ourselves “Christian” because we fear the misconception that we are among the hypocritical religious people who operate not with aligning to the Cross but to their own ideological agenda. Some of us call ourselves “Calvinists” or “Arminians” or “Reformed.” There are Baptists, Anabaptists, Credo Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Methodists. There’s a name for everyone. And although the categorical structure that holds these diverse sects of Christians together isn’t wrong in its purest form (when it unites and not divides the body), I found myself convicted when reading Scripture how the name Christian stuck to us. It was actions that spoke louder then words.
In Acts 11:19-26, the church at Antioch began growing under the Apostle Paul and Barnabas. What struck me was the line, “And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26b).
These disciples did not call themselves “Christians”. Rather, it was the world – the people that they meet in their every day lives – that began calling them Christians. It was the people they strived to share community with. It was the people they served daily, love deeply, prayed earnestly for, and gave endlessly towards. They did not first identify themselves as belonging to God. Rather, the world first saw their passion for God and their love for people.
There was something strange about these people; people who were disciples of Jesus Christ. They lived lives that were miraculous, exemplary and unusual. They had a passion that was unusual and contagious. They did not conform to the world that they lived in. There was something extraordinary about these people. It was because of this difference about this group of people that their neighbors began to call them “Christians.” They reflected the great love and joy and mercy and hope that Jesus Christ did.
I am humbled by this verse. Often I identify myself as a Christian, and yet, I wonder if my actions match with my words. Am I a genuine reflection of the One who I devote my identity to? Can people tell that there is something distinctly different about me – that I am absolutely passionate about God and His people? Am I living and loving in such a way that those who look at me say “The only explanation behind this man’s miraculous living is because of Jesus Christ”? I am challenged to draw even closer to Jesus, allowing Him to prune me more deeply so that my actions reflect His heart for His namesake. I want to look and act differently than the world, and have the world wonder what it is that makes me different. I will let my actions give my voice of reason to why I am identified as a Christian. And this is the ultimate reason why I have decided to go on the World Race; to be like Christ. Christ came into this world to serve "the least of these." He went and shared hope to the hopeless, love the abandoned, and peace to the restless in heart. And so my deepest desire is to reflect the same love that my Savior had for the world. That's why I want, need to go. May the Spirit enable me to be like the Son who died for me, so I bring the Father all of the His deserved glory. Forever and ever.
Amen.
I humbly invite you to be a part of what God is doing in my life. Will you join me on this journey in financially supporting my trip to go and be like Christ to a world that needs to know God's love and the good news of the Gospel? Thank you, and grace and peace be with you.
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