Articles
A GOOD EXAMPLE – BECOMING WHO WE PREACH
In the past I have written of the importance of not doing what we do to be personally
glorified in being seen by men. But I also demonstrated that this is not the same as others seeing
our walk and being helped to have a better example to follow so they can better comprehend
what Christians do.
In order to see genuine Christianity in action they must see genuine Christians. What I mean
by that is that any number of people can ACT like a Christian without being one. The old joke
comes to mind about a crazy man who dresses up in feathers, wears a beak and goes about
clucking around the chicken coop. However similar he may or may not be to the chickens he IS
NOT a chicken.
To be a Christian is not just about actions but about transformation. As Paul said in 2
Corinthians 4:10, we are to be “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the
life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” When people see us acting like Jesus, it needs
to be because we are BECOMING like Him (2 Cor. 3:18).
When we BECOME Christians it is because we have been clothed with Christ and are living
out the reality of the words of an old but beloved hymn. We see in this song the progression from
self to Jesus.
Oh, the bitter pain and sorrow that a time could ever be,
when I proudly said to Jesus, “All of self, and none of Thee.”
Yet He found me; I beheld Him bleeding on th’ accursed tree,
And my wistful heart said faintly, “Some of self, and some of Thee.”
Day by day His tender mercy, healing, helping, full and free,
Brought me lower while I whispered, “Less of self, and more of Thee.”
Higher than the highest heaven, deeper than the deepest sea, Lord,
Thy love at last has conquered, “None of self, and all of Thee.”
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).
We cannot BE Christians unless Christ is living in us. Don’t merely act, BECOME!
~John Fields, Hillsboro church of Christ, El Dorado, AR
