What does a Christian look like?
It would be wonderful if you could look at people and instantly see who was a Christian and who wasn’t! Life is not quite that simple, however. Jesus told a parable about wheat and weeds which reminds us that in this life, it can be hard to distinguish between true believers and those who may look the real thing but who are not. (Matt 13:24-30, 1 John.) Nonetheless, there are distinguishing features of Christians, ‘the marks of Jesus’ (Gal 6:17) which need to be evident in our lives if we are to be effective salt and light in our everyday living.
In order to be distinctive, however, we must ensure we do not conform to the patterns of the world but are transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Rom 12:2) Other versions paraphrase this verse:
- Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. (Rom 12:2, The Message)
- Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within. (Rom 12:2, J. B. Phillips)
- Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. (Rom 12:2, CEV)
- Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude] (Rom 12:2, Amplified Bible)
- Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. (Rom 12:2, The Living Bible)
The pattern of the world we are not to emulate is not simply cultural customs (such as eating raw fish like the Japanese or wearing Lederhosen like the Austrians!)
Rather, it is the worldview, prompted by the devil (Eph 2:1-2; Eph 6:11-12), which says ‘We don’t need God. We can manage without Him, thanks very much.’ This may be the majority view in the Western world, but just because it is the majority view does not make it right. Peer pressure can be extremely insidious and forceful (especially in our formative years), but we need to understand that taking a stand for Christ means swimming against the tide and has consequences (see Mark 8:38).
Being transformed works ‘from the inside out‘, as we allow God’s Word to dwell in us and shape us. Jeremiah 35 tells us a parable, how Jeremiah invited a group of people called the Rekabites to come and drink wine. Their obedience to their forefather’s commands meant they refused the request and their distinctiveness became a parable to Israel to live ‘not on the basis of what was current with the crowd but on the basis of what had been commanded by their ancestors.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Run With the Horses’, P 138) We too are commanded to live in distinctive obedience to God, being ‘salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth’ and being ‘light, bringing out the God-colours in the world.’
