Yet Another Year of Choices
By Barbara Dahlgren
One of my favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. I love it! Dorothy spins over that rainbow and lands on top of a wicked witch. Then the lovely Glinda floats down like a beauty queen to ask Dorothy in a wavery voice, “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” Dorothy is perplexed. “I’m not a witch at all,” she says. “Witches are old and ugly.”
“Tee-hee-hee,” the Munchkins titter. The elegant Glinda replies, “They’re laughing because – I am a witch.”
Things aren’t always what they seem, are they? Consider if someone were to ask you, “Are you a good Christian or a bad Christian?” Is a bad Christian anomaly? Aren’t all Christians, by virtue of just being Christian, good? If that were true, books like When Bad Christians Happen to Good People by Dave Burchett wouldn’t have to be written.
Christians who try to shove religion down another’s throat in the name of Christ miss the mark of what Christianity is all about. The Bible says to be ready to give an answer to those who ask. (1 Peter 3:15) No one wants to ask an obnoxious Christian anything. Maybe that’s why they feel the need to preach their version of Christ to all they meet. Some want to convert people to be like them rather than leading them to encounter the risen Christ.
Nor should we be trying to spiritually psychoanalyze someone else. Telling people who have problems, sickness, or trials that they are suffering because God is punishing them or they are sinning or they are not close enough to God is not comforting nor is it biblical. The greatest apostle of all, Paul, had severe trials and a thorn in the flesh God didn’t remove. Was he not close enough to God???? Well, if he wasn’t, none of us will ever be.
Are Christians perfect? Of course not! But the errors should come more from stumbling and falling in the process of becoming like Christ (walking the walk) rather than merely forcing others to share their point of view on Christianity (talking the talk). As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying.” People should know a Christian by how they live, how they treat others, their love of God, and the fruits of the spirit manifest in their lives.
How does the Bible say you can recognize a disciple of Christ? “By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) 1 Peter 2:15 says, “…by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
Consider this… Should we be able to talk the talk? You bet! How else will you know what and why you believe? But more importantly, if you want to win souls for Christ, you better walk the walk. If you walk the walk, people are going to be more inclined to hear what you have to say. This may be one way to tell the good Christians from the bad.
One final thought…
What we do can speak so loudly that others won’t be able to hear what we are saying.
