Visible Faith
How can you tell if someone is a Christian? You might notice their cross necklace or WWJD bracelet or the ichthus symbol on their car, but we know that proudly displaying Christian iconography is not the same thing as faithfully following Jesus. I wear a clerical collar most days, but even that is no guarantee of faithfulness.
Years ago, at a Safeguarding God’s Children training, I heard a priest invite a room full of lay volunteers to find a tangible way to “put on” their identity as Christians just as the clergy put on a distinctive collar that identifies their vocation. He wanted those volunteers to remember that, wherever they went, they were representatives of the church and, therefore, emissaries of Jesus Christ. He admitted that remembering that truth is easier for those of us who wear a distinctive clerical outfit. Every time we put on that collar, anyone and everyone can recognize us as a representative of Christianity. Even if it were an invisible sign—like carrying a pocket cross or wearing a piece of Christian jewelry beneath our shirt—he suggested that finding a way to physically engage our Christian identity in public places made it more likely for our faith to remain the governing principle of our lives.
Your identity as a follower of Jesus may not be as plainly visible as a clerical collar, but your manner of life—no less than that of the clergy—should be an obvious testament to your faith in Jesus. All of us who belong to Christ are called to bear witness to his life, death, and resurrection. In the Baptismal Covenant, we affirm our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, and then we proclaim our commitment to that particular way of life which is a direct reflection of that faith. If we believe that Jesus Christ “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried…[and that] on the third day he rose again,” we must also, with God’s help, “persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever [we] fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.” We cannot believe in a God who has promised to raise us into everlasting life and not “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
You do not have to be a student of religious culture to notice that not all people who claim to be Christians live lives that reflect the Way of Jesus. As Jesus taught his disciples, the world will know that we are Christians not by the cross we wear or the way we spend our Sunday mornings but by our love for one another (John 13:35). He told us that those who would be his disciples must take up their cross in order to follow him (Matthew 16:24). He showed us that by caring for one of the least of his siblings we are, in fact, caring for him (Matthew 25:40).
Many people are understandably sick and tired of Christians, but that might be because the Christians they encounter are not introducing them to the real Jesus. The so-called Christians who have the loudest microphones and the most prominent pulpits often fail to embody the way of the cross. They use their religious identity to further their own agenda instead of using it to build up the reign of God. They seek their own glorification instead of seeking to glorify God. And faithful people are often led astray by those who would use bait-and-switch tactics to replace the gospel of grace with a false gospel of prosperity, power, and exclusive privilege.
We glorify God through our humility, poverty, and authenticity. As followers of Jesus, our way must be the way of the cross, the way of sacrifice, the way of love. Otherwise, we cannot know what it means to be loved, to be redeemed, and to be forgiven by the one who died for us. That is a fundamental characteristic of Christianity: we receive from God that which we share with others. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to forgive us our trespasses as we have already forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Although God’s love for us does not depend upon our worthiness to receive that love, we cannot know the magnitude of God’s love until that love has shaped us into the image of Christ—until that love is visible in our lives.
That does not mean that we must be perfect in order to be Christians. Jesus did not come to call saints but to save sinners (Luke 5:32). We all make mistakes. From time to time, we all fail to reflect God’s infinite grace, acceptance, and love in our lives. As the Baptismal Covenant reminds us, we are not to repent and return to the Lord if we fall into sin but when we do. But being a follower of Jesus means striving to be conformed fully to the image of Christ. When Jesus tells us that we should be perfect just as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), he is inviting us to see that there is no aspect of our lives that is not transformed by God’s grace. The word perfect means “complete,” and we are called to belong completely to God in Christ.
On what end of that relationship are we supposed to focus? How can we deepen our experience of God’s love in this life? Should we spend more time meditating on the faith we proclaim in the Apostles’ Creed or the lives we are called to live in the Baptismal Covenant? I think it depends on where you are in your faith journey.
Some of us have a hard time believing that God loves us just the way we are. We are naturally skeptical of our own worthiness and belovedness. We struggle to believe and trust that God’s promise of new life is meant for us even though our current lives often feel so very far from the ideal that Jesus embodied. If that sounds like you, you might find it helpful to hear the familiar words of the creed in the context of what Jesus says about the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost sons in Luke 15. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are God’s way of finding you and bringing you to the banquet table where God has a place just for you.
Others of us have a hard time remembering that God’s love for us is intended to shape us into a more Christ-like image. We are born with confidence in ourselves and our own goodness, and we struggle to remember that others are just as beloved and worthy as we are. We need help seeing beyond ourselves and trusting that God’s love for us only makes sense when we recognize that same love in others. If that sounds like you, consider returning to the second half of the Baptismal Covenant and hearing those words in the context of what Jesus says about true faithfulness in Luke 18. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are God’s way of finding you and bringing you to the banquet table where God has a place for you along with everyone else.
Either way, you are called to embody the way of Jesus in ways that the world can see and recognize. As baptized members of Christ’s body, we promise to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.” We may go to church on Sundays and wear a cross around our next all week, but letting others see Christ in us is more than that. We must begin by remembering that we—yes, even we—are loved by God without limit and that that love makes us one with Christ. Then, we must acknowledge that our identity as members of Christ’s body is something we must pursue not only with our lips but also in our lives.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
