Prove It (Friday Devotional)

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

- John 13:35

A few years ago, when I was pastoring a small, rural congregation in Crawford, my quiet morning at the church office was interrupted by a loud knock on the front door. The sound made me jump, because I didn’t get many unannounced visitors; I almost always had the building to myself all day. But when I went to see who it was, I was even more startled—standing at the front door was a stone-faced sheriff’s deputy.

When I opened the door, the deputy explained that there had been several acts of vandalism at nearby churches and he was stopping by to make sure everything was ok here. I told him we hadn’t yet had any problems, but I appreciated the courtesy since I was the pastor of the church. With suspicion written all over his face, the deputy asked if I—a 20-something in gym shorts who was at the building all by myself—had any way to verify that.

My mind raced for some way to prove my identity. I didn’t have a business card to show him. I hadn’t yet built a church website where I could show him my picture on the staff page. There wasn’t anybody else there who could vouch for me.

Then it dawned on me—my name was printed on the church bulletin every week. Grabbing one from a pew in the sanctuary, I offered it to the deputy along with my driver’s license so that he could compare the names. Looking these things over, suspicion gave way to satisfaction. He returned my ID and left.

It had taken me a minute to figure out how to prove to him that I was a pastor. But according to Jesus, it would have been much harder to prove I was a Christian. That’s because there is no identification you can offer, no documentation you can point to, that proves your faithfulness to the world. If you want the world to know you are a disciple of Jesus, there’s one way to show them.

It’s not with doctrine—though right belief is certainly important, it means little if not matched by action. It’s not with church membership—as vital as it is to be tied to a community of faith, there must be more to your testimony than having your name on the church roll. It’s not with the books you buy or the songs you listen to or the famous names you support—while ‘consumer Christianity’ would have you believe otherwise, you can belong to Christ without buying cross-shaped trinkets.

Jesus says that the proof of your faith is how you treat others: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” If you want to be identified as a follower of Jesus, you must first identify with the love of Jesus; if you want people to know you are a Christian, you must first show them the love of Christ.

It is by looking at your actions that people will determine whether you are Christlike or Pharisaic, a disciple of Jesus or just part of the crowd. So may love for others be your Christian ID, and may your life be the proof of your faith.