Are you really a Christian? (Part I)
Whenever I can, I try to check how my timeline looks on Facebook, or my Instagram or Twitter profile, I always check, delete what needs to be deleted, and add what needs to be added, I try to give the correct message through The images that I show, neither more nor less, but, above all, I want the name of Christ to appear everywhere. In my smile; that is genuine, in the way that I dress; that represents chastity, holiness and modesty, in my way of speaking; that it does not sound vulgar or out of place, all this without ceasing to be me and express my identity.
I do this because I am a Christian and I must act like one, see myself as one and speak like one, and this is where my point is and where I want to get to;
How is a Christian supposed to really look? Are there any guidelines other than what the bible says that I should know about? What does the bible say about how I should behave or dress?
There is nothing more important to me than what Christ thinks of me, and to my surprise and relief, Christ thinks better of me than I think of me, because he sees the finished work, and the redemptive work of his sacrifice upon me, I see what I am today and what I was yesterday, but that's another topic.
I also care about the example that I am giving to others on my social networks.
To be honest, this matter is sad for me, because a Christian should not pretend to be a Christian, a Christian should be and that's it, right? but the reality of the story is different.
We receive immense social pressure, almost as if we were influencers or famous people, we have everyone with an eye on us, just because we decide to be Christians, we are in the crosshairs of those who are not and those who are.
The fact of being in the sights of the Christians makes it even worse, even our family persecutes us, and watches us to see if it is true, because they do not believe that something good will come from their own line, they always expect us to do something to criticize or point a finger at us.
Does it sounds familiar? As when it was prophesied that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem and the citizens of Bethlehem themselves did not believe it, and said, "What good can come out of Bethlehem?", Jesus himself received backlash for his origin and constantly called him "the son of Carpenter".
Christians themselves are the hardest and most ruthless when it comes to judging a child of God, proof? I have a small example for you ...
One day I was back in my country, and I went out to eat at a restaurant with my friends, we innocently took a picture and the picture showed the table, with food and a couple of mojitos, and I uploaded it to a story, not thinking that It was a bad thing, and not even realizing that the mojitos were there, visible in the photo, however a few seconds after I uploaded that story, someone very close to me (at that time) wrote me a private message and He says, "You should not upload photos or publications with alcoholic beverages because you are a Christian public figure, and because you damage the testimony by doing so, I am not judging you, you can drink what you want but do not show it", “ What ??? Really ??? ", Literal this was my expression, what a hypocrisy! Drinking the mojito and not showing that I drink it because of what they will say (be careful, I'm not saying that my friend is a hypocrite, because he has his point and I must respect and I will talk about this later), I speak of myself being a hypocrite to pretend something that is not real, but, what happened with the people who are in the restaurant watching me, they do not count? and my friends who are also Christians, what? "What a small minds has who sees me and fall into sin because of this", that’s what I thought, but then I asked several Christians, (say outside of my friends because it seems that those Christians do not count, because they are not "super spiritual")
- "" What do you think of this photo? Is there something wrong with them? Does it offend you? What kind of message does this photo give you? "", And to my surprise that person told me, "the truth is that the photo has nothing wrong, but since you are a Christian, it is wrong" ", but," "Why" ", I thought," "if it is a healthy drink, and I do not do it to get drunk, and I like it, and I only had one" ", I showed the picture to a couple more people and they didn't even notice the drinks.
Well, to my other surprise, I asked the same question to a non-Christian, and his answer was the following; "" what's wrong with you drinking a mojito if you're not going to get drunk? In the bible says that it is a sin to get drunk, but not necessarily to drink alcohol ”(he quoted the bible 🤯),“ Jesus drank wine, but he didn't get drunk, Jesus even made wine at a wedding, didn't he?”, so, Am I actually keeping testimony so that the "CHRISTIANS" don't judge me? I thought it was for non-Christians that I should take care of myself, or for the new in the faith, but it turns out that I should take care of the old ones in the faith?
“Don't get drunk, because that leads to debauchery; on the contrary, fill yourselves with the Holy Spirit. "
Ephesians 5:18 KJV
(This alludes to a different kind of fullness, not from alcohol, but a spiritual fullness, which brings life).
Now let's pause and answer a few more questions;
What do you think of a Christian? What are your expectations about the life of a Christian? How do you think a Christian should live? Do you consider that a Christian should be perfect and without blemish? Do you think he or she is not allowed to sin? What are the guidelines for a Christian to look like a Christian? Are there things that a Christian is allowed to live and enjoy and others not? What are the parameters?
After I arrived in the United States, my perspective on the behavior of a Christian changed a lot and on how a Christian should look or dress (I will talk about this in the second part of this blog).
Let's put it this way, I was born and raised in a country with a very closed mentality and customs, on an island where nothing is known about what happens outside of it, and not because we do not have internet or communication, but because with what happens inside the island is enough.
Catholics by birth, with religious minds, full of doctrines that it is not known where they came from, because it was not from the bible, because that was what we were taught and no one questioned it. Without biblical knowledge (because nobody read the bible), but only what was spoken in the masses, then when we converted to Christianity, instead of being free from the bondage of sin and religiosity (it can be of any religion, even the evangelical), what we did was that we introduced all those bad customs and lack of knowledge to Christianity, and we added 50 chapters of Sunday school (which used to be called catechism, in my case, I was Catholic), plus 20 volumes of Bible study (adding to what was already there, not renewing the mind), more than 700 preaching of the pastor (that there was a time in the 2000s long ago, that only spoke of prosperity) (note the sarcasm), there were few pastors who They would grab a bible and talk about sin, transformation, redemption, the coming of Christ, etc. I thank God that I grew up in the gospel with a pastor who ate and rumbled the Bible, who rebuked and called our attention and confronted our actions with the word.
Imagine this scenario, we haven’t even shed our crimes and sins, and we are already graduating from a doctorate in divinities and we believe we are pontiffs, "apostles and prophets", never missionaries, "that is very low", it is from prophet onwards that goes the matter, "evangelists", "ministers", incapable of sinning and with a license of judges and lords (note the sarcasm, again).
Not all of them are like that, not all of US are like that, but we all get some of this from time to time, and I don't want you to take me the wrong way, I don't want you to go out on the street and say, "ah, Cindy said that I could drink without problem, as long as I don't get drunk, and that I can publish it on the gram ", even if this is true, do not hold me responsible if your pastors put you in discipline for showing what you should not , the point here is not that.
In 1 Corinthians 10:23 DHH94PC it says;
"It is said:" One is free to do what he wants. " It is true, but not everything agrees. Yes, one is free to do what he wants, but not everything builds the community. "
And here is my beloved, the key point of this whole case ... It is out of love for the community, the congregation and our brothers in the faith that we do and do not do certain things.
I open a debate with this; What do you think about the aforementioned? Have you ever been judged by someone for how you act as a Christian? Or to the one who is not reading me, what do you consider to be one's own behavior? What is your expectation of someone who professes Christ?
Disclaimer: Christian is anyone who believes in Christ, confesses him as Lord and Savior, and has decided to lead a life that pleases God, and submits to what the word says.
** In the next blog, I will be exposing the second part of this writing **
Leave your comments down below and share it, I want to read you.
Part II and III
https://www.cindynunez.com/english-blogs/yes-i-am-a-christian