Will they know we are Christians?

I recently met with a couple of Christian friends for lunch. We asked the Lord to bless our food and we talked for about an hour about things going on in our lives and where our personal ministries for the Lord were taking us. Our waitress was very nice and took an interest in the spiritual things she heard us sharing.

As she was waiting on us, checking our need for refills and the like, we included her in our conversation. She shared about things going on in her life and her trouble in surviving on a very low hourly wage plus tips. We asked her how many hours she worked a week and what was her busiest day. She said that Sunday was her busiest day, but she disliked it the most of all her work days.

We were shocked by her answer as to why she disliked Sunday work. She said, “Lots of church people come to lunch here after their Sunday church services. They are the most rude and demanding customers I have all week. I am exhausted by the end of my Sunday shift.” In her case, a strange meaning is communicated in the words of the tune, “They will know we are Christians.”    

Going to church on Sunday does not always make us behave like good Christians when we go through the doors of the church and into the world. No matter what we might think we are doing in our activities at church, we can only be a Christian if we allow Christ to dwell in and among us.

In 2^nd Corinthians 13:5-8, St. Paul gives us a litmus test to check our action acidity in saying: ^“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?  And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.  Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed.  For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.”

We find guidance in scripture to help us prepare ourselves for daily living and interaction with others. The Holy Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is certainly a blessing to us in seeking God’s Will in our lives. As we have God’s forgiveness and deliverance from our sin, we don’t have to look back, but forward in our interaction with our fellow man. Seeking God’s Will in all that we do makes us ready to take Christian action in all of our environments with the Grace of God and His Spirit flowing into and through us.

We can make our own litmus test to see if we are preparing for and fulfilling that which we are called by God to do in this world. While we may fool ourselves, our Father recognizes immediately if the Spirit of Christ is in us. As for ourselves, we must examine our thoughts and actions regularly to be sure that they conform to God’s Will. In 2nd Peter Chapter 1, we are reminded of our gifts from God and our Savior Jesus Christ and that they are great and many.

And thus in 2^nd Peter 1:5-9, we hear: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.”

So as the song tells us that we should be one in the Spirit and one in the Lord, then “they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” This works in restaurants and at all times and places in our lives.