Does Your Conduct Contradict or Confirm Your Faith in God?

Scripture: Titus 2:10, ESV

“…Not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” (Titus 2:10, ESV)

Christianity is not a list of dos and don’ts or an intellectual belief in the tenets of the Christian faith.

True faith is having a personal relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ. We have been born again to a living hope, a relationship with the risen Savior who lives in and through the life of each believer.

That being the case, Scripture exhorts us to be good examples of the relationship we proclaim:

“Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…” (Philippians 1:27, ESV)

If we are to be effective representatives of Christianity, our conduct cannot contradict what we say we believe in.

We live in a difficult environment, and it is critical to work at staying away from every form of evil. In fact, we are told to live “blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.” (Philippians 2:15, NIV)

But, everyone else is doing it, so it must be okay. Right?

Wrong. God’s view is usually the direct opposite of what the world says is okay. Our goal is to please and delight an audience of One. That audience is God himself. The world’s opinion does not count.

Here are two excellent Bible verses to help us remember how different God’s wisdom and the wisdom of the world are:

“Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20, NIV)

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness…” (1 Corinthians 3:19, NIV)

The more we read the Word of God, the more we realize the truth of these statements. As we allow the transforming work of the Word to fill our spirit, we become people who “adorn the doctrine of God.”

Today, ask yourself:

Am I good advertisement for the kingdom of God by the way I act, talk, and treat others?