What does it look like to live a life that is worthy of the call?
John 17:21 I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one--as You are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe You sent Me.
In the previous post we learned that we have a responsibility to live up to the position that we have in Christ, there needs to be perfect harmony between who I am and how I live, if I do not walk worthy of the position that I have in Christ then God is not being glorified in my life.
My conduct needs to bring glory to God but what does that look like in practical application? Contrary to popular opinion it isn't about keeping a checklist of things that you are allowed or not allowed to do. We tend to tell people that they need to pray for this much time or read your Bible for this much time or don't do these things but the things that Paul told the Ephesian church to be concerned about are all inner attitudes or characteristics of their heart.
The attitudes that we need to cultivate in our heart include:
✔ Humility
✔ Gentleness or Meekness
✔ Patience or Long-suffering
✔ Forgiving Spirit
✔ Peaceful Spirit
✔ Gentleness or Meekness
✔ Patience or Long-suffering
✔ Forgiving Spirit
✔ Peaceful Spirit
That's what the world needs to see in God's people, we have been called by God to live a very peculiar life-style, but instead we look just about the same as the world. Our divorce rate is the same, the number of God's people that are dealing with anger and pride is not radically different from the rest of the world. The devil has a lot of nice, friendly, caring people that have better hearts than some of God's people.
Remember that it isn't about checking off a list of good things to do and determining in our head that we will live with filters and stay away from doing bad things. It is about heart modification, the Holy Spirit will put these into your life, your human effort will work for awhile but permanent change comes from within.
Walking worthy is a very big issue and one that doesn't get talked about enough. Does the world see the unity that Jesus prayed for us to have? Jesus prayed that we would have the same unity as he and his Father had so that the world would believe. The church should not look like every other human organization, there should be a supernatural difference, a unity that can not be brought about by human effort.
Our evangelism methods often fail because the church has a bad reputation, the message of love, unity and oneness gets lost because God's people don't walk worthy. We cannot have an influence on our world if they cannot see any benefits in our lives. Let's make the world take notice of us and wonder why we are so different.
Thank you Lord for your forgiveness and grace, I need to extend forgiveness and grace to those around me, help me rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to show me how to be radically different from the rest of the world.
