Tuesday, 06 January 2009

  • The Dos and Don'ts of Christianity

    I remember back in university, God started sending Christians to speak to me. I had a few Christian friends who witnessed to me, sharing me their testimonies but I never thought too much about any of it.

    It was more of the Christians who didn't "act" like Christians - those are the ones I remember. There was one Christian girl who prided herself as a Christian, hung out with the Christian group yet still treated me like dirt. I've been bullied before, but she probably would top my list as one of the coldest people I've ever met. She was great to her friends, but horrible to any girl that could be a threat to her. And I was just too oblivious to these things to care other than the fact that her misrepresentation of the Christian faith just turns me off from the whole Christian teaching and to get to know Christ for His conduct.

    You see, what I learned is that no matter what you do just so that you can fall into the category of Christianity, you will never experience the true freedom that comes with His glory.

    What I mean is that, being a Christian doesn't mean to follow a set of rules such as don't drink, don't get into a sexual intimate relationship with someone before marriage, don't swear, go to church on Sundays, read the Bible every day, join the Friday night church fellowship... following these rules don't categorize you as a Christian because anybody can do it.. I did it when I was non-Christian.

    When I first started walking with the Lord, things started to disappear in my life. It's not that I stopped drinking, it's because the desire to enjoy alcohol is no longer there. It's not that I stopped cursing, it's because I could no longer voice a curse word out.

    You see, it's not because I stopped doing things so that I could be a Christian and be part of something bigger than me. It's because I fell in love with Jesus, and His glory manifested itself around me and eliminated anything sinful in my life. It's not just only eliminate sinful desires, but the glory of God that surrounds you should convict others of their sins. This is what I mean...

    My friend from work, D, spent the most time with me in Mexico. She knows what I believe and see how different I am from other Christians. I never did say that, she did. It was a compliment for me. But anyhow, throughout the whole trip, I spent a lot of time with God. I never did criticize her of the things that she was doing in her life - it was not my place to judge. My job is to love her the way God loves me. At the end of the trip, she took something that didn't belong to her. She told me of what she did but I never said anything - all I did was smile. The moment she told me, she felt guilty - she was convicted of her sin even without me saying anything.

    It's because the glory of God upon Jesus that manifested itself - that's why when people touched even Jesus' clothes (and Paul's too), they were healed. The glory of God is also called manifested goodness. It is impossible for evil things to exist in the glory of God because the moment sin or anything evil touches the glory, the sin gets judged and eliminated. It cannot withstand the glory of God. That's why a person who has the glory of God can never get sick is because of the power in the glory of God - which satisfies 1 Peter 2:24 - by His stripes, you were healed.

    So the point of the story is, it's not what you do that makes you a Christian. It's what Jesus has done and the way you love Jesus is what makes you a Christian. It is through that love relationship that non-Christians will see the difference in you. That love relationship allows the glory of God to manifest in your life, which sets you free from the sins of this world. That's why it's impossible to experience the freedom from sin without the glory of God.

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