Beauty is in the Eye of the beholder.
When we come under the gracious rule of God., What do we look like?
Beauty is in the Eye of the beholder.
This phrase having been expressed the first time somewhere in the 3rd century
BC ( That being Before Christ)comes to mind when we speak of recognizing Christians in public. As do the phrases of wisdom;"don't judge a book by it's cover" and "All that glitters is not Gold"
Certianly many have seen those that
appear to be what the popular conception or should I say (misconception) of a "Christian" is.
Jesus himself had no differance in appearance and was not recogniszable as differant until He spoke. And even then many could not recognize the Massiah. And His chosen people were expecting him at any time (or at least should have been)and had every word of identification recorded of him.
The first problem is in the eye of the observer. Realisticly can one who doesn't know or follow Christ have any idea if another is or does?????
Maybe I shouldn't feel this way but the one thing that gets to me the fastest is to see someone who denies Christ say to any other "That isn't christian "or "you are not a christian".or Christians can't or don't do or believe that.
Just as bad is the "Christian" that makes a specticle of themselve with their attention seeking religous antics. Or those who express themselves as "Christian" while at the same time publicly being or doing something that is at best questionably Christian and often far from it.
Actualy from my experience those who best example the life of Christ in the world today are those that without speaking to them one would not quickly claim them to be anything but unnoticable in normal circumstances.
In a ""drive by" or "drive Buy" culture many don't take the time to observe and or discern. We often get the high points or low points as the case may be and run with that based on our"Get it done" snap judgment.
There are many ,used car selesmen, con artist, politicians, and yes "Christians" that for what ever reason take advantage of that.
I said all that just to say this
Many true Christians (maybe most ) don't fit the popular "Christian "image. and no doubt many that fit the image ,fit the image and little or no more. Meaning we just can't tell by the public personna portrayed wheather some one is christian or not.
Scripture says we can tell a tree by it's fruit. The thing about that is the leaves are not fruit, the bark is not fruit, The shaddow is not fruit, the blossoms are not fruit. Only the fruit is fruit and that takes time to produce and rippen and close observation to determine.
What do we look like???? Pastors, preist, pew warmers, wall flowers, geeks , hill billys, yankies ,children, truck drivers, dish washers, travelers, cab drivers, housewives, too short ,too fat, to skinny, too loud , too old, too young (more often than not) too quiet. . . Too happy, too sad, (Way to often) rude, ignorant, uncaring, arrogant, judgmental, and out of touch with reality. It's what we are inside that makes us christian, not what we want others to believe we are or what others think we are,not what we look like or say or do.
But a great deal of this false impression is because we are seen through so many differant eyes. Another part is simply because being "Christian" (contrary to popular beliefs) doesn't mean we are perfect.
A bad misconception that unfortunately Christianity has had a great deal to do with bringing upon it'self.
A Christian is the one who strives to acheive the best knowing that they will fall short and that Christ will cover the short coming and understanding that the world doesn't (to their detriment) know or accept that.
But in respect to power and money I believe dusty gave the answer before he got to the question
Pro 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Pro 30:9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God invain.
A balance is always the best, because either end of the spectrum is very dangerous.
Blessings
Cliff