Are We Representing Jesus Well?

The one thing that should concern us is, are we representing Jesus well. It is unfortunate that often times we still allow our old nature to dictate our behaviour and actions. Sometimes we say and do things without even processing what the potential outcome will be. We feel the emotion and allow ourselves to react. He have the thought and speak it out loud. The network television stations have a 3 or 5 second delay on their live shows so they can bleep out things that are inappropriate. It is too bad we don't have the same delay built into our personal system. It is why our mothers taught us to count to ten before reacting to things that made us mad.

We live in an age where a lot of our personal, private thoughts are now shared with everyone. Those things we use to think, process and often times throw away, are now shared across the world. You would think that we would use some kind of filter to prevent these things from harming others, but many of us don't. In doing this we fail to represent Jesus. And it is all about representing Jesus.

If we have any doubt about our behaviour, and even if we don't, we should be comparing ourselves to what we find in God's Word. We don't compare ourselves to other Christians but to Jesus and what God says is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. He has called us to his holiness and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is not good enough to excuse our behaviour with "I'm tired" (one I use a lot) or "I'm only human". Excuses don't cut it with God and he is the one to whom we answer. We have to bow before him and own our fault, confess it and allow him to remove it from us.

We shouldn't need people to correct us; we should see and know our errors, faults and sins as soon as they happen. We know it because we know the Word of God. We know because we are convicted by the Holy Spirit. Don't ruin that. Don't deny the correction of the Spirit through the Word. Don't become insensitive by trying to justify yourself before God:

Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

It isn't about us. If we have done something outside of the character of Jesus we need to deal with it so it doesn't get in the way. It is always about Jesus. Always. We represent him, not our church, not our family, not ourselves; only Jesus. And because of that we need to follow the instructions set out before us in the Word of God for dealing with our faults, sins and mistakes. There is a correct way to behave and the Word of God gives it to us. This is the only code of behaviour we measure ourselves against.

Are we representing Jesus well?