I watched as a young man stood with perfect posture, handsome, wearing good shoes, a nice watch, as he confidently gave directions to a wait staff. Everything seemed to be perfect, until he turned his head. As he turned, his full face showed a very large birthmark across his forehead. When I saw this across his forehead, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Although, he was attractive, well dressed and seemed to be confident in his job this feature of his dominated your perception of him. My thoughts immediately went to how do people see me? What is the feature that dominates people’s perception of me? I may dye my hair, put on my makeup, put effort into my clothing but, what is the feature that people see in me that I can’t avoid showing?
As believers there are features in us that we should be displaying in our lives each and every day. These features should be apparent to all who come into contact with us. In 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 it says, “For we are the aroma of Messiah to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” Our very lives are a fragrance demonstrating on the outside who we are on the inside because of our relationship with our Messiah. Those that don’t know Yeshua should be able to see it, sense it, know it and be longing for the same experience.
There are many distinguishing features of a believer that are spoken about in the bible but, I want to cover just three:
- Love- John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” When we don’t love other believer’s and those that are not believers, we confuse those that are around us. Love is not a plentiful commodity in the world! When we act like the world, we lose one of our distinguishing features. We blend in instead of sticking out, looking odd, and totally different than the world.
- Unity- John 17:20-21, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” This feature has been difficult during Covid and post Covid. Many believers, have forgotten Yeshua’s words for unity and have brought political debates into congregations where it has caused division and strife. They have taken the bait that Satan has set up as a trap. The world knows all too well that people are evil, untrustworthy and difficult to get along with. When we, as believers, actually get along with one another, demonstrating love and acceptance, then the world sees real evidence that our faith is real.
- Hope- Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Many people that we interact with on a daily basis are hopeless. The dictionary defines hopeless as, “impossible to accomplish, solve, resolve, also as the feeling that all your hopes have been destroyed. It is a subjective emotion which has a negative viewpoint for the future, one of losing control, confidence, courage and the energy to reach one’s goal.” When we demonstrate the feature of hope to those that are hopeless, it is in direct opposition to the messaging that is being broadcasted in books, social media, television and basically everywhere. Our hope is a biblical hope. It is a hope that is not just a mere desire for something good to happen, it is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. The world is so hungry for hope!
In our walk with God, we struggle to demonstrate these features. We are humans that are prone to weakness and we get weary, however, talking about God is not enough. We must allow the Lord, through His holy spirit, to equip us to demonstrate these and the many other features that are in the Word. When people see these features being demonstrated, we will draw those that are hungry to the table.