Do you look like my son? Do you look like Jesus?
Our contact last month in Malaysia had this awesome way of keeping us on track. He would remind us every once and a while, “When you get to heaven God isn’t going to look at all the places you’ve done ministry or how many people you have helped, He’s going to look you up and down and say “Do you look like my son?’”
Do I look like Jesus? Do I live a life like Jesus did? Do I love like He did? Do I represent Him in a way that God would be proud of?
I am on an 11 month mission trip, but that doesn’t mean I look like Jesus. It is so easy to treat this like a vacation. When ministry is slow, we enjoy the country and what it has to offer. And not to say this is bad in anyway! But even when we are out and about enjoying the country and not necessarily doing “ministry” we still need to look like Jesus.
We still need to respect one another, and respect the culture we are in. The scripture about the stumbling block has come to mind a lot over the last few months. What we see as sin and what the rest of the world sees as sin is so different. But im starting to understand their point of view better as I encounter it more and more in each country.
For example, smoking. If you smoke, you aren’t a Christian. Drinking. If you drink, anything, whether you are getting drunk or not, you are not a Christian. Dancing. If you are a Christian you don’t dance to secular music. Music. If you listen to secular music, you have questionable values.
In the past I would have scoffed at all of these things and said that it was simply a cultural thing that i needed to respect. But now after spending so much time in different cultures I see where they’re coming from.
As Christians, we need to represent Jesus all the time! Not just when we are at church or doing “ministry”. Our lives are living examples of Jesus. Some say we are “Jesus with skin on”. Maybe thats true. I know that if Jesus walked through the door and I had a beer in my hand and a cigaret in the other, chillin at a club I would be ashamed of myself.
I remember times when people of other cultures questioned my music or the beer bottles I had in my room or anything to that nature and I would just say, “Its different in America. We don’t see those things as sins.” I wonder why that is. Now when I hear a rap song blaring down the streets of these counties I know that where its coming from, there are no Christians present.
And now even when fellow Christians act against the culture and play secular music or drink or smoke in public I am saddened that they are misrepresenting Christ to these people.
At the beginning of this blog I had no idea that this is where it would take me…. But this is how I feel.
I feel Gods call on my heart to represent Him better! To truly live a life worthy of my calling. To live my life in such a way that strangers don’t have to question whether or not I’m a Christian. I know this won’t happen over night. And im certainly not there yet! But I want to get there. This is my goal. To live a life worthy of my calling. Worthy of representing Jesus. Worthy of baring His name.
I want to represent Jesus to the world all the time. And if that means giving up the things I’ve never seen as a problem, then thats what I’ll have to do. When i get to heaven I want God to look me up and down and say with a smile,
“Good job my faithful servant. You look like my son. You look like Jesus.”
