November 24th
Because of You
Romans 2:24
For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
People often judge Christianity by it's participants rather than it's precepts. Christians can give Christianity and thus Christ a bad name. They can tarnish His character and turn unbelievers away from the truth. Granted no man can come to the Lord apart from the drawing of the Holy Spirit who gives them a new birth that results in a new behavior. The Lord alone can transform the most terrible of sinners. Yet He has appointed Christians to point others to Christ. He has called us to live in a manner that would demonstrate Christ to a depraved world. We are to practice and proclaim the gospel. The redeemed reflecting their Redeemer.
Paul is addressing the Jews. He acknowledges their relationship with God, their knowledge of and confidence in the law and their ability to teach others. Yet he challenges their instruction. He poses a series of questions regarding their hypocritical conduct and he presents to them a passage from Isaiah that address the consequences of their behavior. He calls them out because they don’t adhere to what they advocate. He criticizes their conduct for not complying with what they teach. He declares that their hypocrisy is harming God’s work. He asserts that their behavior is causing God’s name to blasphemed by unbelievers.
Christians are called to be like Christ. We are to imitate Him, to behave in a manner that brings glory and honor to our Lord. But none of us are perfect. All saints sin. We all fall short. We all succumb to temptation and tumble into sin. These failures do not forfeit our ability to demonstrate Christ. It is when we stay in sin that we slander His name. When we follow after sin rather than forsake it we shame His name. It is when we live a lie, claiming to be His followers, but not following Him that we do harm to Him. It is when Christians don’t act like Christ that His name is defamed among unbelievers. It is then that the nonbelievers don’t see any difference between saints and sinners. When Christians behave like the “Christless”, they see no distinction between their life and ours. So, they feel no need for change and no reason for redemption because they are no different than Christians. Thus, they become closed to Christ because of us.
Here is a truth we must all contemplate. We must consider our conduct. We must examine ourselves daily. We must search for strongholds of sin. We must hunt for habitual habits that have hold on us. All of these lingering sins we must dismantle and dispel. We must not let anything remain in us that will cause nonbelievers to reject the gospel because of us. We must cultivate in our lives character that will cause others to consider Christ because of us. We must practice godliness so we can point them to Him rather than push them away from Him.
Today seek to show and share the gospel with sinners in hopes that they might come to the Savoir. Recognize that often nonbelievers don’t want to hear about your Jesus until they see your Jesus. Ask the Lord to help you strive to live like Him knowing that you might be the only “Jesus’ that they every see. Pray that you may never let the name of your Beloved be blasphemed by unbelievers because of you, but let them see Jesus ‘lived out”, that they might find Jesus “because of you”.
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