Living Proof

[hldude33]

"Living Proof"
By Zach Wood
John 13:34-35 NLT
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

Think about all the different ways we need to prove something in life.  When we fly somewhere, we are asked to show proof of our identity.  If we have been somewhere and tell people we saw something really cool, we need pictures to prove it.  When we apply for a job or some kind of loan, we are asked to show proof of who we are.  There are so many different scenarios in which we need to show proof of who we are in order for someone else or a group of people to believe we are who we saw we are.

You can talk and talk and talk all you want and try to prove something, but if you don't show that proof in some way or another, people are not going to believe you.  If there is no proof, it is not believable.  Just like in a court case, if there is no evidence or proof, good luck pleading your case!

Just humor me and imagine this.  What if you told someone you just met a celebrity or had an alien encounter?  Do you think, without a picture proof of this, that anyone in the world is going to believe you?  Of course not!  I wouldn't even believe you if you told me this without a picture proving this.  When we try to persuade someone to believe something, we need proof.

Think about the lives that we have in Christ.  What if we lived our lives every day telling other people they should believe in God, but then turned around and cussed out every person see came in contact with?  What if we told people they should love like God does but then they see us yelling at others and treating them horribly?  Duh?  It doesn't make sense or add up!

I know that none of us would deliberately live this way, but we are all imperfect and we do and say some really bad and dumb things through the days of our lives.  We all mess up.  However, we must realize that in order for people to really believe the love God has for us and them, they MUST see Him through us.  They must see Him in everything we do.  And, yes, they must even see Him as we mess up and admit that we are wrong and sinners in need of His forgiveness. 

Jesus is crystal clear as He tells us that we absolutely cannot expect others to believe this message we believe in if we are not loving one another as He commanded us to.  We must be living proof of Jesus Christ.  As Michael W. Smith sang in his song many years ago, "For the world to know the truth, there can be no greater proof, than to live the life, live the life."