“Last weekend,” Stan commented, “we had a neighborhood couple over for dinner.”
“Have a nice time?” I asked.
“Very much so,” Stan replied. “Good friends. Nice Christian couple.”
“One thing we talked about,” he continued, “was that the wife had just finished jury duty on a fairly long trial that concerned a man who was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants. She didn’t give a lot of the detail, but did say that the jury after a pretty long deliberation concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to convict.”
“Interesting,” I responded, “I thought most of those kinds of cases were pretty much open and shut.”
“Guess not,” Stan said, “but what she had to say led us into a discussion of whether or not there is enough evidence to convict each one of us of being a Christian.”
“Being convicted of being a Christian?” I responded. “Has it come to that?”
“Not completely in the sense of being persecuted,” Stan said. “It may come to that eventually, but it’s always a question for me in the sense of whether or not I’m living the Christian life God intends.”
“You mean living like a disciple?” I asked.
“That’s it,” Stan replied. He continued, “When I first became a Christian, there were all sorts of things in my life that didn’t belong there as a Christian.”
“What kind of things?”
“You really don’t want to know,” Stan replied. “Just take my word for it.”
“Okay.”
“In any event,” Stan said, “It all boiled down to the question of whether I was going to get rid of those things and walk in a manner worthy of being called a Christian, or whether I was I going to continue in a lifestyle that presented insufficient evidence of being a Christian.”
“Sounds like the kind of question we should all ask ourselves,” I commented. “Is there enough evidence to convict?”
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Bible verses to consider:
We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1:9-10.
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worth of the calling with which you have been called. Ephesians 4:1.
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:7.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for the provision of life with you eternally when it’s time through the finished work of the cross. Thank you, too, that you want me to walk in a manner worth of being called yours on this side of eternity. I confess that too often my life does not present sufficient evidence that I am a Christian. Please forgive that foolish way of living the life you have given me to live. And please, Father, help me to follow every step of your lead in being only who you intend, manifesting only what you have for me to manifest as a Christian. Thank you that I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Are you a Christian? If no, why? What’s in the way of accepting God’s free and gracious provision of life with Him in eternity when it’s time? If you are a Christian, how are you doing with living a life that displays sufficient evidence that you are, in fact, a Christian? If you sense the need for change in your life so there is greater evidence, how is that change going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 