“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”  1 Peter 2:12

How do we do this as Christ followers?  How do we keep our conduct honorable despite the pressures that seem impossible to resist?  I suppose the question we must ask ourselves first is, “what is honorable?”  If you were to look at a dictionary some of the similes of the word ‘honorable’ are: “Blameless, upright, virtuous, moral, righteous, principled.”   Therefore, if we are to be honorable disciples of Christ we have to possess these qualities as disciplines in our words and our deeds.  The hypocritical notion of “do as I say not as I do” cannot apply to us.

Someone is watching you!

I love that classic Michael Jackson song “Somebody’s watching me” , it’s perhaps a bit paranoid but the truth of the matter is that if you profess to be a Christian then you better act like a Christian in your actions!  Why?   Because there are people looking at you and looking to you as an example what it means to live an upright life!  If you blow it and display something opposite of what you are professing then guess what?  It’s not just you failing it’s the identity of Christ in you that has been poorly misrepresented.  I hate to point fingers and I rarely will, but when churches like the Westboro Baptist church goes out and spews hatred and condemnation, what they are doing is poorly representing Christ to a lost world.  Their idea of Christ isn’t something I embrace and in fact they do more harm than good with their protests and divisive signs.

You see the world is looking for blameless, upright people!  The world has far too few of them.  I’m not just talking about being an honorable GOOD person; I am talking about godly examples of Christ in our world today.  This may sound harsh but there are a lot of Christians in this world who talk a good game but bring very little of it home with them in the way that they conduct themselves.   My place isn’t to shift the blame on anyone, but if truth be told I too struggle with this in my own life as well.   1 Peter 2:12 tells us that not only ought we be honorable so that others see us do good, but that they too might see God and glorify Him!  It’s a double edged sword here.  On one side we are to live upright principled godly lives for ourselves and because it brings glory to God, and on the other side others are watching and innately they too want to find this truth for themselves.  So that when others see these good deeds displayed in God’s people, they too want what we possess which the indwelling of His Holy Spirit and a transformed life.

How is your soul today?  How is your life?  Are you living for God or are you talking a good game, but there is very little evidence of Him in your life?  I want to first encourage you when I say that God has great expectations for us.   He knows what we are capable of and the potential that we already possess to do good in our own world for Him!  He believes in you!  He loves you!  And our calling as Christ followers is to live this life out loud so that others might see Christ through us.

Secondly, this passage reminds you and me that there is so much more at stake here than just our reputations.  If we’re wearing the cross on our bodies and as bumper stickers on our cars then shouldn’t we be wearing a transformed life as well?  I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be another Christian casualty on the spiritual highway wrought with moral car wrecks!  I doubt you do either.

So what?

Live what we say, and say what we live!  And may God be visible in every capacity and fiber of our being!

God is looking for a few good men and women to service Him in the trenches of life.  Are you up to the task?  He believes in you…do you believe in you?  Do you believe in Him?  Get on with it then!  Blessings on you this day and May you live for Him in word and deed!  Amen & amen!