One of the books I've been plugging through lately is a little book (with a big punch I must say) by Bob Roberts titled Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World. Today, I just wanted to share an insight from this that got me thinking this morning.
Roberts states: "Christianity is about radical change-but we just can't seem to pull it off. Why? Because we have not crossed over from being merely a convert to being a disciple. The biggest challenge today is producing a different kind of disciple."
He then goes on to point out that "right living" doesn't come from more information but from more imitation. In my view, this is a deep and profound insight in a world where we seek to know more and more and perhaps imitate the wrong things and thereby model less and less the Christian life.
When asked whether he was a Christian or not during a conference where he was addressing pastors, Peter Drucker, the popular business guru, explained that the term "Christian" was given to the early believers by unbelievers because their behavior was said to imitate Christ. He then made this rather insightful statement: "For him to call himself a Christian is one thing, but for others to recognize it in me is quite another." For Drucker, Christianity was more than just a label; a religion. It was a lifestyle that should cause others to want to imitate it.
So, here's a question to think about:
Would lost people readily call you a Christian? Why or why not?
