Let Our Actions Talk

Many times in our lives we have to prove that we are who we say we are. If we say we are good cooks or if we say we are good drivers, then we have to prove it. What if we consider ourselves to be good Christians? It does not matter what the circumstance is. When we say that we are good in something, the time will come in life when we will have to prove that we are good in what we say we are. Matthew 7:16 tells us something really important concerning this matter, and that is that we will know who someone is by the fruits of that person.

John 8:12-14 states, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’ The Pharisees therefore said to Him, ‘You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.”

This passage tells us something that we need to notice. In this occasion, Jesus was saying to the Pharisees a very serious statement. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Of course in that time, comparing yourself to this was a very serious matter, which made the Pharisees angry at Jesus for saying such a thing. If we paraphrase the answer that Jesus gave to the Pharisees, He basically said that His witness was true and that He was behind His word as a guarantee. Now, let me ask something. How many of us can say this of ourselves, “I am a good Christian,” without feeling accused by our guilty conscience?

Jesus’ Way of Thinking

Our Savior was constantly thinking about the work that He had to accomplish here on earth. Throughout the Bible, we see Jesus teaching us wonderful lessons on where our minds should be at all times. In John 4:31-34, He says that His food is to do the will of the one who sent Him. For our savior, it was to accomplish God’s will first and to do everything else of lesser value later. Of course, that does not mean that if our wife is dying on a Sunday morning, we should not take her to the hospital instead of attending services. We still need to have a little bit of common sense in these matters, even though some of us would prefer to go to church than to help our wives. Our Savior was always focused on finishing His work on earth, even when He was in the worst moments during His life. His way of thinking proves that He is who He says He is.

Jesus’ Way of Speaking

In John 7:37-38, we read that Jesus was talking to the people that were gathered there at the feast of the tabernacles. Jesus raises His voice and says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Jesus was already being persecuted and was on the way to being arrested before He said this. The Pharisees and the chief priests had already sent officers to take Him because they did not like what He had said before. But what happened with these officers that were sent to take Him? Did they take Him? The answer to this is No! The Bible says in John 7:45-46, “Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why have you not brought Him?’ The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!’” The way that Jesus spoke showed that Jesus was proving who He said He was.

Jesus’ Way of Acting

Throughout the Bible, we see that Jesus becomes sad in Mark 14:34; He becomes angry in John 2:13-16; and He feels compassion in Luke 7:11-17. His way of acting shows us that He was a human like us, but in all of these situations He acted in a certain way to complete His work on earth. Our Savior gave us a perfect example that we should follow everyday in our lives. If we say that we are His followers, we need to prove it. Luke 23:47 says, “So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, ‘Certainly this was a righteous Man!’” This centurion was present when Jesus died, and He realized that Jesus truly was the son of God after seeing all that had happened when Jesus died. The way that Jesus acted resulted in His dying on the cross, and that proved that He was who He said He was.

Conclusion

Do we need to see the sun turning black to believe that Jesus has power to save us? How do we start proving that we are Christians? If we are Christians, we need to prove it! We need to think like Christians, we need to talk like Christians, and we need to act like Christians!