I’ve always loved this verse:

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

Jesus had died and risen again. The apostles were faithfully sharing about Jesus to their fellow Jews and were arrested by the religious leaders. They were interrogated by these leaders. What stood out to the religious leaders, who hated Jesus with all of their being? Although these men were uneducated and untrained, they were amazingly effective. Why were they so effective? Because they reflected Jesus. They had clearly been with Jesus. Without asking for witnesses to verify that they had followed Jesus, the religious leaders could tell. The apostles’ words, demeanor, and actions matched Jesus so well that it was obvious they had been with Jesus.

Does your life reflect time with Jesus or does it reflect time in the world? Do you speak like Jesus or do you speak like the world? Do you view the world like Jesus, or do you view it like unbelievers? Do you love like Jesus or do you hold a grudge like the culture? If you can honestly say that you reflect Jesus, His love, and His righteousness, good job! You are on the right track for making a difference in the world and for drawing people to Jesus. If you tend to be more like the world, it will be hard to have a positive influence on others. Maybe your problem is you don’t spend enough time with Jesus.

Do you pray continually as is commanded?

pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Do you pray every day? Multiple times each day? Throughout the day? Do you give thanks for all the blessings in your life? Do you praise God for who He is and what He has done? Do you ask God for help in making decisions and dealing with difficulties? Do you ask God for direction, courage, wisdom, and strength? Do you pray for others?

When prayer is a daily part of your life, it shows. You become more like Jesus, who regularly took time to step aside and pray. You will have a peace that is unlike those around you who fall apart at every hardship.

Do you spend time daily in God’s Word?

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,Nor stand in the path of sinners,Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!But his delight is in the law of the Lord,And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

Do you make time to read the Bible every day? Do you do more than just rush through your reading, but also study and meditate on what you have read? Do you seek direction for your life in the Bible? Do you take correction from the Bible and try to align your life with the Bible instead of trying to mold the Bible to match your personal beliefs?

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

You need to know God’s Word if you expect to know God. You need to understand God’s Word if you want to have wisdom and a right view of the world. You need to apply God’s word if you want to live a life that imitates Jesus.

Do you spend time with fellow believers?

and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Do you spend time with fellow believers so you can encourage and be encouraged to live lives honoring to God? We become more like those with whom we spend the most time. If we spend time with fellow believers, especially faithful followers of Jesus, we will become more like them. If we spend most of our time with unbelievers, we are more likely to view the world like them and live lives like theirs. It is hard to maintain a Christlike demeanor when most our lives are spent with those who don’t like Jesus.

This doesn’t mean that we should avoid unbelievers. If we are never around unbelievers and never allow any relationships with unbelievers, we won’t have the opportunity to share Jesus with unbelievers.

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10:14)

We shouldn’t withdraw completely from the world or we will be no worldly good. We shouldn’t, however, have unbelievers as our spouses, our best friends, or even our business partners. Those closest to us should be fellow believers, so we can build each other up.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

Be The Light

There was at least one person in the Old Testament whose entire demeanor proved he had been with God. Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, and when he came back down, after talking with God, his face glowed with the reflected glory of God.

It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. (Exodus 34:29-30) {emphasis mine}

Moses was so used to being in the presence of God’s holiness that he didn’t realize how it had affected him. He didn’t realize that his skin shone, but this shine wasn’t just a healthy glow. This glow was more than light. It was the holiness of God. When the sinful congregation saw it, “they were afraid to come near him.” It was so difficult for the people to look at Moses’s face that he had to wear a veil to shield the people from the glory of God.

Can you imagine being so close to God and spending so much time talking to God that your physical face shone with the holiness of God? What a blessing that would be!

We may not have the opportunity to talk to God physically, but we can spend time with God. We can spend enough time with God that everyone who spends a significant amount of time with us recognizes that we have been with Jesus.

Christians?

Pew Research polls in 2024 show that 63% of Americans claim to be Christian. I don’t know about you, but 63% of the people with whom I come in contact definitely don’t appear to be Christians. Based on how the people around me live, I’m surprised the percentage is above 5%. Why are there so many people who claim to be Christians, but who don’t live Christ-like lives?

There are definitely many people who believe that there is a God. There is a significant number that believe that this God is the God of the Bible. The problem is that the number drops quickly when you dig into their beliefs. Many (most?) don’t believe that the Bible is inerrant (or if they say they believe in the Bible’s inerrancy, they allegorize so much of the Bible that most of it isn’t taken as the truth). Many (most?) don’t believe in most (or all) of God’s miracles recorded in the Bible. Many (most?) don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to God.

Most of them don’t believe in the sinfulness of man, nor in the holiness of God. They embrace God’s love and mercy, while refuting God’s holiness, judgement, and wrath. They want to believe that they can earn their own way to heaven and/or that almost everyone will go to heaven because people are basically good.

If they spent time reading God’s word, these beliefs would be quickly refuted. I hope you put God’s word above your personal preferences. I hope that when the Bible and your opinions disagree, you will change your opinion and not try to bend the Bible to your preference. I hope when you are told that science or history disproves the Bible, that you look deeper and see where science or history is wrong. The Bible should always be the highest authority in our lives because it is the word of the Creator of the universe. Nobody knows better than our God and Creator.

May you be so close to Jesus that everyone can see that you have been with Jesus. May you long for His word and study God’s word like your life and the lives of the people around you depend on it. May you shine the light of Jesus on those around you.

Trust Jesus

FYI, I recently bought an editor (ProWritingAid) to help me edit my book. I had been relying on friends and family, but it was taking so much time, and it is hard to find every nitpicking error. I don’t fret over minor errors in a free blog post, but feel anyone who spends money on a book deserves a well-polished book. Some suggestions, however, turn personal writing into efficient, vanilla prose. I’m trying to take the useful suggestions and ignore the ones that cause my writing to lose my personal flavor or that harm my intended meaning. Please let me know if you notice a difference and whether that difference is good or bad, so I know whether I should continue using it on my blog posts.

All verses are NASB unless otherwise noted.