“Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”
(Mal 3:13-15)
The basic problem here is Christian hypocrisy, though it includes the world’s definition of what being a Christian is. The world expects Christians to behave in a certain way, always cheerful and happy, saying, “Hallelujah!” every so often, heads bowed in prayer over just about everything. They believe in the caricature of Christianity, rather than the real thing. That said, the world sees us as hypocrites when we say we are Christians, but then have divorces, and cheat on our taxes, or cheat others in business dealings, or use foul language, or a host of other vices we succumb to. Perhaps their judgment is justified then. As Christians, we ought to be more aware of our behavior, especially as it is before God. We need to be reminded of 1 Peter 2:12.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
(1Pe 2:12)
While we may not change the caricature the World believes in, we can change our behavior. We must make it plain that we do not consider ourselves better than anyone else, and we are sinners too, though saved by the grace of God. (Ephesians 2:8) That only comes through a closer walk with God. Then we must build relationships with non-Christians, so that they can see what a Christian is really like.
Meritt Musings 