Are You Guilty of the Greatest Commandment?

               "If you were being accused of being a Christian, would they have enough evidence to convict you?"

          This is going to be short and sweet to some, but short and full of conviction for others. We're starting in John's Gospel, chapter 13, verse 34. The New Living Translation puts it very eloquently when it says, "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." So really, we are on trial every day. The world shines a harsh spotlight on Christians, and most Christians have probably already experienced this. It happens in school when you get angry and your tongue slips. "I thought Christians weren't supposed to say that." It happens at the office when you go in with the guys on a lottery ticket. "I thought Christians didn't gamble." They're waiting for us to mess up.
          So how do you respond to being on trial? Are you guilty of loving the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind? How do you plead? Do you take the stand and plead the fifth, ashamed of your Father? Do you stand, proudly guilty? Regardless of how you plead, this part of the case is in the hands of the jury. You don't get to defend your case, either. The only thing that determines your fate is what your actions speak for you. 

          Thankfully, we don't have to wonder what kinds of actions speak for us in a positive light. Right back in John he tells us that our love is what will prove our hearts. If we have love, we'll be noted as different. Think about the word "Christian." How do you think it got started? Acts 11 says that during Paul's first missionary journey, in the city of Antioch, a mass of people finally realized that God had made the way for Gentiles to enter heaven. This was a huge moment in the history of the church, and verse 26 says that the disciples were first called Christians, or "Christ followers," there. They didn't call themselves Christians, the people of the time noted their actions and knew what Christ had been all about, and the disciples' actions were so undeniably Christ-like that the people addressed them as Christ followers. 
          This is the bottom line: Do you act in a way that your actions alone speak to the fact that you follow Christ? Do you emulate the life of Christ so much that people would call you a Christian if you didn't claim the title yourself? "You may be the only Bible someone reads." That's a favorite saying of church-y people, but it's true. Do you really want to fulfill God's purpose for your life? If so, open up your Bibles, read about who Jesus was, and act like Him. That's it. That's the key to living a life of purpose. Live a life guilty of being a Christian.