7月20日
活出基督
“因为神的旨意原是要你们行善，可以堵住那糊涂无知人的口。”
彼得前书2:15
当今社会里，抨击基督徒的名声已经不是什么怪事。基督徒很容易成为被攻击的目标。基督徒在社会上应该以不同的标准生活—不是指遵纪守法方面，而是在价值观、优先次序、行为举止、生活方式等这些方面。他们就应该与众不同，这几乎是尽人皆知的。因为耶稣自己就是超凡脱俗的，他的大爱奇妙无比、他谦卑温柔、有权柄能力。所以他的门徒也应当如此。
然而如果基督徒无法真正效法耶稣，却假冒伪善，那么被社会批评也就不可避免了。
基督徒要想避免社会的批评，就要努力活出基督，不是试图脱离这个世界和评判这个社会，而是实实在在地面对每天的日常生活和不同的环境。 真正跟随耶稣的人，能够做到善待他人，造福社区，言而有信。 那些公众的指责就不攻而自破了。
今日祷告：
亲爱的耶稣，求你让我一言一行都有你的见证，让别人透过我看到你的样式。阿们。
July 20
Live Differently
It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.
1 PETER 2:15
Bashing the reputation of Christians can be a bit too popular in our culture today. They are an easy target. Christians are supposed to exhibit a different standard in society—not in terms of strict rules, but in terms of values and priorities and actions and lifestyle. They are supposed to
be different. Almost everyone knows this. Because Jesus was so radically countercultural, so amazingly revolutionary in his bold love and humble authority, it is natural to expect that his followers are to be radical too.
So when Christians pretend to be radical like Jesus, but turn out to be hypocritical messes, society rightly gets a bit critical. The way to avoid the justifiable critique, however, is to actually live differently—not in a way that is removed from and judgmental of society, but in a way that is life breathing in every ordinary and dramatic circumstance of each day. Those who follow Jesus can dismiss public accusations simply by being consistently decent to neighbors, beneficial to their communities, and trustworthy in their words.
Pray for the Day:
Dear Jesus, let my talk and my walk be so saturated in you today that others will see you in me. Amen.
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