Are we really following?

When you ask non-Christians to describe Jesus, you will generally hear them using positive adjectives to describe him. They will describe him by saying things like he was a good teacher, that he was caring, that he was accepting of others, that he was not judgmental, and that he was interested in the downtrodden and marginalized in society.

On the other hand, if you ask those same people to describe Christians, you'll hear a very different story. You'll hear words like judgmental, close-minded, legalistic, uninterested in helping others, and unaccepting of others.

People who have a relationship with Jesus are supposed to followers of him. That means that we're supposed to go the places he goes and do the things that he does. How is it, then, that Christians and Christ have such different reputations? How is it that we have missed the mark so badly that we are seen as the opposite of Jesus, even though we are supposed to be his followers? How have we reached the point that there are people who will not come to Jesus because they don't want to be associated with the followers of Christ?

This is a reputation that we, as followers of Jesus, need to fight. But the only way we can fight it is to live up to the standards of Jesus ourselves. We can't undo the damage done by others. All we can do is to try to do it right ourselves, and try to be a light that truly will draw people to Christ. We need to really show the love that the world too often sees as missing from Christians.