What do people see?

Yesterday at our church, we had baptism for a lady who recently accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. We do baptism at the beginning of our services and this means I go change before joining the church for worship. When I came in to the sanctuary our church was in the middle of a song, so I took a spot on the front row and joined in the singing. After the service a parent of a 2 year old told me her daughter noticed me coming in the service. What was interesting about this is the timing of the song and what the little girl said. The lyric in the song being sung as I walked in was "Jesus." The little girl noticed the tall guy with a beard that talks from the stage and naturally assumed that I was Jesus and pointed it out to her parents. When this funny story was shared with me after the service, I couldn't help but be challenged by it.

This small child made an observation that we can find humorous. But to be completely honest with you, my first response in my mind was "No. No. No. Don't compare me to Him. I don't stack up to Him." There is a little bit of truth in my initial thoughts, but there is also much spiritual immaturity as well. I don't stack up well to Christ. Honestly, none of us do. He is perfect, holy, omnipotent, sinless, limitless, eternal, omniscient, and so much more. I don't stack up as a sinful, broken, fallible, and finite human being.

Since I carry the name of Christian, I can't be so spiritually immature as to tell someone not to compare me to Christ. When I took the label of Christian to describe my affiliation with Christ, I automatically gave people the right to compare me to Christ. The word Christian was originally used as a derogatory term that meant "little Christ." So I have to ask myself, when people look at me, what do they see? Do they see a "little Christ"? Do they see someone doing their best to live up to the example Christ set before them? Do they see a person modeling their life after the perfect and sinless Son of God? Or do they see someone who wears the label of a Christian but has no more affiliation with Christ than a person wearing a sports jersey does to that team? What do people see when they look at you? Can they more honestly and candidly than the 2 year old did yesterday, look at you and say they see Jesus when they look at you?

If they can, then keep up the good work. It is hard to live out a consistent Christian witness in the world we live in. If people see you day in and day out living a life surrendered to Christ, then you are on the right path.

If they can't look at you and say they see Jesus when they look at you, then what needs to change in your life so they can? Speech? Attitude? The way you treat people? Your commitment to worship God on Sundays? Your commitment to serve Him in His church? Whatever needs to change so people will see Jesus in you, that needs to be your top spiritual priority. Otherwise they will continue to see something other than the label you claim.

I hope today's post has challenged you. I know I was challenged spiritually by a 2 year old that mistook me for Jesus. The take away for all of is the same. When they look at you, what do people see?


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