Troubled

And that same Christ gave these gifts to people: He made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to care for and teach God’s people. Christ gave these gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. Ephesians 4:11,12

There are times in our normally content and well ordered lives that something will trouble us. It will seem small to others, but for the troubled person, it can be a big thing that may keep you awake at night, and affect your daily living. Some Christians have been on the way for many years, and some for relatively few, but I would suggest every one of us would want to be the best Christian example possible.

There are different groups of people in the verses above, and I am not sure where I would fit in. I am certainly not an apostle or prophet, but maybe I can care for some people just enough that they might learn the reason for my faith. Does that make me a teacher of sorts? It’s a heavy responsibility and not one I would want to shirk, or shrink from. But how do I do this? How do I avoid becoming a false teacher, and the risks that brings?

I am blessed to live in a nation where just about everyone knows the very basics of Christian life and living. Not that they all profess to be faithful to the message, but mostly, they know. Look at it this way, if you do something that falls short of the standard, the unchurched will be able to say the words we don’t ever want to hear, “I didn’t think a Christian did that”. My point is this. We don’t always have to convince our family or friends what it means to be a Christian. Chances are they already know. All that’s left to ask is, how to be the best witness and example, so that Christ is clearly seen? The writer to the Hebrews sums it up nicely when he reminds us that there are people watching us, and we have a responsibility to be an example. Read the following verse as if the ones we want to reach are the onlookers watching us run the race of life. We are their examples, and the bar is set high. I trust I am up to the challenge because I don’t want my life to be a stumbling block to any (young) person who is seeking for the truth of eternal life. None of us want to see the unintended sad eternal consequence of a misguided example. False teachers are not limited to the unreachable televangelists or internet preachers who so easily lead us astray. No, the sobering thought is that we, you and I, can also be false teachers, so let us be “wise as serpents, and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16

We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. Hebrews 12:1