The Negative Witness

Splendor and majesty are before him;

Strength and glory are in his sanctuary

Psalm 96:6

Sometimes I am embarrassed by the behavior of other Christians.

Recently, I went to a secular organization’s information session because I was considering doing some volunteer work with them.  During the course of the session, several people started talking about their experiences with Christians.  They were all negative experiences.  After each of their encounters, they were left with the belief that Christians were close-minded, judgmental, arrogant, and bullying.  I left the event wondering how people got such negative impression of Christians.  I started thinking about my past.

Before I gave my life to Jesus, I used to work in a multi-faith office.  I worked in a secular institution, but came to realize my colleagues were Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and pagan.  The Christian in the group was the worst “ambassador” for their faith.  The employee stole time from work.  The worker used the company landline for their own personal business.  The person used the resources & information we discovered more for the benefit of the person’s children than for our clients.  There was also a certain air of arrogance around the person, who believed being a professed Christian made other people morally inferior to them.  Everyone felt it.  My co-worker was a negative witness for the Lord.  After I came to faith, I often thought to myself that I don’t want to be the type of Christian that drives people away from Christ.

Consider Paul’s speech to the Athenians in Acts 17:22-34. He was direct and respectful.  Once we make our point, it’s the person’s decision.  If people reject the gospel, we can shake the dust off our feet as we leave (Matthew 10:14).  Yet, why would one reject the message of Jesus Christ?  Joseph Prince said that it makes him angry to hear Christians brow-beating or bullying people in an attempt to bring them to faith.  He says that Jesus Christ is beautiful and attractive; and if we would just present Jesus as he is, people would be receptive.

My word of wisdom for today is reputation.  All of us are concerned about our own reputation.  We would be upset to hear that someone was gossiping about us.  We have two people campaigning and competing for the presidency of the United States, and there’s a lot of talking about the harsh & negative media campaigns being conducted.  People on both sides are even demanding apologies.

What about the reputation of Jesus Christ?  Think about all the time and energy making sure that we have a good reputation.  We’re careful about what we say and how we look and where we go and who we associate with and how we behave.  We should invest the same amount of time and energy into making sure we represent Christ just as well.

He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

1 Timothy 3:7