I overheard a conversation the other day that made me pause. A pause full of thoughts of how do people see me? How do I show others the heart of God? Do I live a life for Jesus that others can see Him in me?

This person talked about a parent who was religious, but their actions spoke of the evil in their heart. They spoke vile words that could tear down any foundation of faith a wounded child could have had. Now to this day they don’t want anything to do with this “religion”.

How damaging it is when we give a false front to our faith. We hold others to the standards that we cannot keep ourselves. Punishing others with the religion rather than loving them with the grace of God.

I have a vicious temper. Believe me when I say I am not proud of it. It takes me awhile to have an angry outburst, but when I do my tongue could peel the wallpaper off the wall. It is my most unbecoming quality. I have verbally taken down my girls on more than a few occasions. I give an onslaught of words that would make any sailor blush. As I have gotten older, and I hope wiser, it is far less often. It shames me to think about it. How does this represent my precious Lord?

The fact is that it perfectly portrays His grace and mercy for me. I am in no way am excusing myself or justifying my actions. What I am saying is this shows how I as a sinner am still accepted by my perfect savior. He calls us to himself while we are sinners. I have forgiveness for sin but am still a sinner. We will be made perfect when we finally arrive in heaven one day. Until then I will sin. Maybe not the big intentional sins but it is still sin that requires the blood of Jesus to cover it.

As a Christian, I am to continually seek Him and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As He becomes more a part of me, less of the ugliness in me will be left. I will not be victorious over this part of myself without adding more and more of Jesus. An example is a cup of milk. If we need that milk gone from the cup we pour it out, but no matter how much we shake that glass to get out every drop there is still a white residue in the glass. So you add water. At first it is cloudy with the milk. Keep the water flowing into the cup and the cloudiness clears as each ounce is added till ultimately all the signs of the milk is gone.

I am a work in progress. It is a process of change that starts the moment we ask Jesus to be our Savior. We have full salvation when we accepted Him. The power of death is not on us, but we still have our human propensity to sin. That is why I have to daily surrender my will to His. My will is still self-centered and sinful.

The question is, how do I keep others from seeing Jesus as a fake when I am failing in some way? I think it is about being real with yourself and with others. If I am religious and push others to be religious with me then that gives a bad taste to everyone. They see the blaring inadequacy of the religion and they will run away from that. If I show that I am helpless without Jesus. If I give grace to people and love them where they are. If I share my weaknesses and if I truly apologize when I have wronged them. That is a far better example of Jesus. That kind of love is what draws people to Jesus. He is not a religion but He is a true friend who loves us. He guides us to perfection in His time. The grace He gives me must also be extended to others in love. Not in threats and unattainable standards of a dead religion. A religion built on rules and regulations no one could follow.

We are living examples to others of who Jesus is. We should avoid sin and strive to live a holy life but we must also love like Jesus. We will fail at times but we must love others who fail.  The bible says they will know us by our love for one another (John 13:35). It was a commandment spoken from the mouth of Jesus at the last supper. He said “A new commandment I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34).

I find it interesting when I read this that at that same dinner Jesus spoke of the betrayal by Judas.  Judas greeted Jesus with a false kiss that will ultimately lead to the crucifixion of Jesus. I think religion is like that. It has the appearance as an act of love but is really a fake. It leads to death rather than life. We must be careful to give a real example of the love rather than a false loveless religion.