"One World"

"In Christ there is no East or West,

In Him no South or North;

But one great fellowship of love

Throughout the whole wide earth."

-John Oxenham, Bees in Amber

 

 

In the Bible there is no support for division by race, poverty, or culture...

 

 

"It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning."  -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Scary Word: Witness

     What is a witness? What would you say is the "non-Christian" definition to witness? Someone who saw first-hand a crime or accident and they testify that it really happened. "That person is the victim" or "that person is the attacker." As Christians we need to live our life (hold your eye roll) with that awareness of the term.
     Six years ago I was single. I did what I wanted and said what I wanted to. In my head it was only about me- I’m an adult my decisions don’t concern anybody. Then I had a son and awareness occurred. "So? Parents embarrass their kids all the time," my sister would say. Let me set the scene: You’re in the store, your kid is with you, and there just happens to be people everywhere you turn… (Getting the idea yet? Every parent has been there.) All of a sudden they say that one thing. You are looking for the closest hole to crawl into. Has it clicked yet? What do they think of me?! That is how strangers judge the kind of parent I am.

     We just established that kids do away with that whole theory of what-we-do-only-affects-myself. So it’s time for that witness word again… Let’s take one minute to truly think about this: What my child does reflects (or witnesses…) on what kind of parent I am, how I act around my child, what I teach my child, etc… So how I act reflects or witnesses how my parents raised me, how they acted around me, and what they taught me. As a Christian God is the Father and every other person in the world who claims Him are our brother and sister. How we behave and talk to/about others shows other people the kind of God we have. Even the kind of church we have! Someone will either say that we are a "good" type of Christian or they won’t want to be like us or even be associated with us.

Someone chooses whether to be your friend by how YOU act.
Someone chooses whether to believe in God by how YOU act.
Someone chooses whether to go to your church by how YOU act.
Here’s the bottom line: You have a choice, but people judge God by YOUR choice.

Lent starts in a month (Feb 18th). Think of your witness... The act of giving up something and using that time to honor God is basically what our witness should look like. We are choosing to give up cussing, dressing provocatively, acting spiteful, and even selfish to speak, act, and think in ways that honor God. After Jesus rose and was with his disciples he said to them, "You are witnesses of these things." (Luke 24:48)