What Does It Look Like To Be a Christian?

No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, you can be an example of Jesus’ love—full of patience, compassion, and grace.

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“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

—1 Timothy 4:12

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What is the definition of Christian behavior? The Bible verse in 1 Timothy 4:12 is from a letter written by a Christian leader who was moving on, to a young man who would be taking on leadership in his place. But the lesson can be followed by any person today, whether you know Jesus very well, or are still learning how His teachings may apply to your life. Regardless of your age, you can be an example to others and ensure that the title of Christian describes a person full of patience, compassion, and self-control.

In one of His teaching moments (Mark 12:28–31), Jesus said there is no commandment greater than these: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So if you find yourself in a season of wanting to be a bridge-builder and peacemaker in your community—having a desire to connect in-person below the surface of small talk, or to be a safe person who offers others the grace and presence of Jesus—then you’re already on the right track to be the example that the young person is encouraged to be in 1 Timothy 4.

But how can we see past our age and love each other in a way that will make us unified? We must know one another. We can start by looking at one another face-to-face.

The Hebrew word for face, pānîm (פָּנִים) means not only “face” but “presence.” Presence isn’t only being in the same space as someone, like when we ride the bus or wait in a long line. There’s a difference between seeing and knowing (or realizing or understanding). We can see physical attributes, or go deeper than that and appreciate the character of a person. It may be difficult to know someone’s character, especially if we feel there is too large of an age gap, but we can start by considering that everyone is a unique creation of God’s—loved purely by Him.

Being present

Think of a time when a face-to-face encounter was healing and restoring for you. A time when you felt like someone really saw you, got you. Perhaps they couldn’t change your circumstance, but they valued you. There are several examples in the Bible of people who had a face-to-face encounter—pānîm to pānîm—with God, and were changed because of the simple fact that they felt authentically known and sincerely loved.

Now consider the power that your full presence with a person can have in the way they relate to the world around them. You, stopping and sharing your presence with someone fully, if only for a few moments, can be that person’s greatest example of the God who sees, until they get to know Him better.

But what if you feel that you already know someone’s character and find them difficult to love? Let’s explore this through the lens of God’s grace. One of the first Bible stories is about the first people God created. They lived unified and satisfied with the environment in which God created them. And yet, they chose to turn away from Him. This thoughtless choice brought them shame, and so they hid from God. At the time there was no need for clothing because the world was pure. But when sin disrupted their purity, their nakedness became a source of shame. When God found them, He didn’t try to convince them of why they should not be concerned about their situation. Instead, He reacted with love. He outlined their consequences, but then He sewed them clothes.

That is grace. God met them in their circumstance, addressed how they were feeling, and made them clothing.

We operate in many communities—with our family, school, neighborhood, job—and may find ourselves in a circumstance where we feel that someone does not deserve our love. Even so, when we do the work to be a safe person who offers others the grace and presence of God, and when we create a safe space where a friend or stranger can experience the welcoming love of Jesus, we are practicing setting an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. We don’t reserve the right to show grace only to those we like or can relate to. We offer everyone grace equally by addressing what they are feeling, and we bring them out of shame, so they may have a new experience in their faith.

A welcoming heart

Offering a welcoming heart to others is how we open ourselves up to the welcoming heart of Jesus. Developing our practice of hospitality and conversational skills that put others at ease opens us up to realizing a person’s character beneath the surface of their physical self, or any labels they may have. It’s a way of loving our neighbor in the same way God has loved us. Connecting with others by seeing their character and showing them grace, by honoring them, is one way to express your love for God.

Our world desperately needs safe people and safe places—people who will look at a stranger, see past their circumstances, and see someone who is loved by God Himself, and therefore unconditionally deserving of the love of their neighbor.

If you desire to be that example talked about in 1 Timothy 4, you may be experiencing a pull from God’s Holy Spirit to draw closer to Jesus. Your youth, or being relatively new in your faith, is not the kind of limitation that should prevent you from participating in God’s work. You can still be an example to others “in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

 

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by Annabel do Santos, youth discipleship coordinator, USA East Territorial Youth Department