By this we may know...

Preface:

There may be a time when someone who you’ve only truly known for two hours might say; “There is someone in D.C. that I think you should meet.”

I have just recently returned from a very spontaneous trip to the Northeast, hopping from Washington D.C. up to New Jersey, down to Delaware, then back up to Pennsylvania in just six days before returning to beautiful Colorado.  It is trips like this one that remind me to stop questioning God’s plans and just let Him be.  While I am pretty tired, the encouragement I received while on this trip will last a lifetime.  Of this, I am sure.  

There has been a lot occupying my mind since returning from this trip, and even though these memories are still fresh in my head, I will probably need a few more weeks to fully digest all that I have experienced.  But there is one thing from this trip that I do know: God is using ordinary people, to do extraordinary things...  still, in all of my not knowing, scattered thoughts, and attempts to understand, there has been one verse that has truly caught my attention in the midst of my new experiences and new found friendships.

By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

I John 2:5b-6 (ESV)

Here is the truth, as believers we can imitate Christ’s faith, love, devotion, and selflessness… and we should, because that is how we are known.

It isn’t about how you advertise your cause for your Jesus, but that Jesus is advertised through our actions, our relationships, and our conversations.  It isn’t about the cause itself, and it isn’t about you or me, it is about making Jesus known.  That is the standard, that is how we know Jesus abides in us.

Too often I find myself preparing to do what appears right, and even though conceived out of the purest intentions it is never compared with the ministry, actions, and footsteps of Christ.  So I am very grateful for my new friends, for pointing me towards this verse, and for giving me new perspective as to what it looks like to walk as Christ walked.

By this we may know that we are in him: that we walk in the same way in which he walked.