“I like your Christ.  I don't like your Christians.  Your Christians look nothing like your Christ.” - Ghandi

Dang y'all.  That's harsh.  It kind of makes me want to put on my boxing gloves, you know?  Get out there and rough someone up in defense of Christianity.  Quote some scripture, point out some awesomeness, hollar a few statistics. 

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ for good works.  BING.

The Salvation Army provides aid to over thirty million people a year.  BANG.

Samaritan's Purse has sent thousands of doctors to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of people in impoverished nations.  BAM.

Ninety-one percent of Christians donate to charities.  BOOM.

There. 

Hook. Jab. Cross. Uppercut. 

Take that sucker.  Uhhh, I mean, Mr. Ghandi. 

Then . . .

I read his words again.

"Your Christians look nothing like your Christ."

And you know what?  My boxing gloves fall to the ground as I realize . . . Ghandi's right.

When have I ever looked like Christ?

Colossians 3:12-15  Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another.  And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

If I want to look like Christ, Colossians 3 tells me exactly which traits I have to exhibit.  I can go to weekly Bible studies and offer to pray for friends and wear a cross around my neck.  I can announce to everyone I meet that I'm a Christian.  But those displays will never mean anything if I don’t show people Christ. 

I have to be compassionate.  I have to be kind.  I have to be humble and gentle and patient and forgiving.  And more than anything, I have to love.  If I want to live like Jesus, I have to love like he did, and Jesus loved BIG. 

He loved so big he fed thousands of people with a single basket of bread and fish.  He loved so big he calmed a stormy sea.  He loved so big he healed a blind man, and a deaf man, and a paralyzed man, and a mute man, and a leper, and a bleeding woman, and a demon-possessed girl.  He loved so big he brought dead people back to life.  He loved so big, he suffered . . . and he bled . . . and he hung naked and nailed to a cross . . . just so I would know how wide and long and high and deep his love really is.

 

Such BIG love.

I wonder how many people I've come across in my life who have never had the opportunity to glimpse Christ.  I bet hundreds of people have crossed my path who have never seen Jesus in a church or in a Bible or, sadly, in a Christian.  What if . . . I shudder to think of the missed opportunities . . . what if people could glimpse Jesus in me?  What if I lived and loved in such a way that I consistently showed others what Christ looks like?

Christians have the power to change the world.  I believe that.  But we'll never do it thinking about Jesus or reading about Jesus or preaching about Jesus.  We can study Jesus all our lives, but if we never serve like he did, if we never live and love like he did, all our knowledge is wasted. 

Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and that's amazing and wonderful and extraordinary.  It means we're forgiven and free.  What a blessing and an honor. 

But it's not enough to accept Jesus as just our savior.  We also have to allow him to be our example.  Yes, Jesus redeemed the world on the cross. Yes, the grace he provided is the most beautiful gift we can ever receive.  But the cross is only one part of a bigger story.  The life Jesus lived is just as important as the death he died.  We can't only look at the cross if we want to follow Jesus.  We have to live our lives the way he lived his. We have to be compassionate.  We have to be kind.  We have to be humble, patient, gentle and forgiving. And above all, we have to love.  We have to love BIG.  So big that when people see us . . . they can't help but see Jesus too.

We have to prove Ghandi wrong.

1 John 2:6  Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.