Jesus,Your Faith and Worldliness

Not too many years ago while there were several controversies relating to Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ,an interesting comment was made about Gibson by Danny Glover who had co-starred with him in four previous movies.Glover basically said,that he was surprised to hear that Gibson had a deep faith as reported in the media during the filming of "The Passion." This is probably the last thing that anyone who adheres to a particular faith system would want to have said about him.The inescapable conclusion you would draw from such a comment like the one Glover made, is that the way you live,act and talk are no different than those who hold no religious convictions.Jesus taught that we are to be in the world but not of this world.We are to be living examples of His words and life.This message is beautifully expressed in the first epistle of John,second chapter:"Do not love the world or the things in the world.If anyone loves the world,the love of the Father is not in him." Sadly,it only takes about fifteen minutes with a remote control in front of a television to see how corrupt,immoral and violent this world has become.The question for all of us is,are we not of this world? Are we engaging in behaviour and speech that in no way represents a person of faith? Do acquaintances,friends and co-workers even know that you hold to any religious beliefs? Last summer I was in a restaurant where I noticed a young man at a nearby table was wearing Buddhist beads around his wrist.I happened to see also that he was drinking and smoking,my reaction was to think,some Buddhist!Then something interesting occurred,a girl walked into the dining area with about two-thirds of her breasts exposed wearing a cross.I then thought,why would you dress like that and wear a cross? At that moment,I recalled my driving to the restaurant an hour earlier.Of how I was anything but Christian in my reaction to someone who was travelling too slow in front of me.The reality is,is that we are all flawed human beings but we must strive each day to live our faith each moment of that day. The way to achieve that is written near the end of yesterday's message on detachment.A complete committment to our faith is the only way to experience true peace while here on earth.May we never forget that we are living epistles of our faith.