Who Would Know?

Witness every day; when necessary, use words.  Saint Francis of Assisi

IN a departure from the usual, I want to take a minute or two to discuss a couple of questions that have been running through my mind in the last few weeks. The first one is a question that I don’t think many of us ask ourselves often enough: If I never said a thing, would anyone know that I am a Christian?

This is a real spiritual inventory question because it really cuts to the heart of what and who we are. It forces us to go beyond the obvious things that we think of as witness and to look at our lives up close and personal. It makes us set aside the hearsay evidences of faith (including our own) and examine the hard evidence. What is the hard evidence that testifies to our faith in Christ?

The circumstantial evidence is made up of some of the things we think are good witness but which are mostly superficial. Church attendance, giving, Bible reading, and public prayer, are outward signs we count on. So are bumper stickers, fish symbols and crosses. But these are just different ways in which we tell the world we are Christian rather than evidence of who we really are.

We also have to go beyond the things we proclaim – family values, for example – to something far more elemental that is evident even when we say nothing. The hard evidence is the way we live our lives on a day-by-day basis. It the silent witness that screams the inner core of our lives.

So what is the really hard evidence of our faith? How do I show that I am Christian if  I never open my mouth or proclaim my faith? Here is the evidence in the form of ten questions that deal with not just how I want other Christians to see me, but with how I want the world to see me, as well:

1.    Am I marked by compassion for those who have made poor choices in life?

2.    Am I known for forgiveness when I am sinned against?

3.     Am I seen as encouraging those who are discouraged?

4.     Do I use my faults as a brake against judging others harshly?

5.     Do I try to force others into moral behavior, or do I work to help them develop their own moral compass?

6.     Do I freely accept other Christians based on the common bond we have in Christ?

7.     Do people in the world feel safe in coming to me for advice or comfort when they are troubled?

8.     Do people see me as fair and honest and trustworthy?

9.     Am I marked by love, first for God, and then for others?

10.  Above all, do people actually see Christ living in me?

Every one of us should be able to compile his own list, and everyone’s list will be slightly different. But there is one thing that will be common to all: None of us can achieve a solid ten on the list by his own power. Even trying to accomplish that on my own will lead to hypocrisy. The result will be self-righteousness, pride and a total lack of awareness that I am off the mark.

Though answering "yes" to every question on the list is unachievable by exercising my own will, any one of us can achieve it by the power of Christ’s Spirit within us. The people I have known who come closest to “yes” to all ten questions are the ones who are mostly unaware of just how many of these qualities they show. They have so immersed themselves in Christ these things are part of their nature. The mere existence of the list of questions is a measure of how far I have yet to go. When I have arrived, the list won’t matter.

The next question: Am I Wheat or Tares?