Believers // are you demonstrating it

I did a little short post yesterday on the world recognizing us (believers) by our love. I did that post for several reasons, but one was in order to set up for this post about believers, about Christians and how the world sees us.

I had a conversation with my friend Eric several weeks ago that has been living in me ever since. Eric reminded me of a truth I had known but needed to be reminded of as far as how we as followers of Christ should be living.

We cracked open the passage in Acts that states, “The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” Note the phrasing. This band of people who were disciples of the Rabbi, Yeshua, were facing fierce persecution. They had little to distinguish them other than their love for God and their love for people, which turns out to be pretty significant. Their hope was not in things. Their hope was in Jesus, the one who said, “Go,” and the one to whom they responded saying, “Okay.”

When you dig a little deeper in this passage, you understand that when the disciples were ‘called’ something here, it means they were being mocked. Being called a Christian was a derogatory term for the people who were using it. Somehow we adopted it and made it our own as a label for ourselves, not so with these early believers. What Eric and I discussed was the significance of the disciples not having to label themselves Christians. They had no branding or marking. They had love. They were known by their love and their life resembled that of the One they followed. They did not have to say, “We’re Christians.” They were “called” Christians. Someone else recognized this and labeled them based on who they were.

I think of how many times I have told people that I am a Christian or labeled myself this way, and wonder how many times I have been called one. The difference is huge. The world is watching though. They are watching for us to make a mistake, they are watching for us to fall, they want us as followers of Jesus Christ to crash and burn so they can say “I told you He wasn’t real.” When we pass by the broken-hearted and the hopeless, the world will ask where our love is. When we hole ourselves up in our buildings, the world will ask us where our love is. When we bicker among ourselves, the world will ask us where our love is. When we are not offering life, the world will ask where our love is.

We are called to live a life that is marked by love. We are called to live a life in unity and in community. We are to be called Christians, not calling ourselves Christians.