Yesterday while Barbara was at physio the girl said something which I have to mention here, she said to Barbara; "looking at your son, your husband must be really good looking".Now, setting aside the fact that Jacob gets his looks from his mum (and that he certianly has my lack of patience, or that he certianly takes after me when it comes to food and a belly), this threw my mind to think about this in relation to us as children of God.
How do people view our Heavenly Father through our lives? And people will do this, they will assess God and Christ through the lense of the Christians that they know.
How great would it be if people seen us, looked at our lives and habits and lifestyle and said "looking at you Christians, your Heavenly Father must be really good".
I guess this is partially what Jesus meant in Matthew 5:16 when He said "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
A friend of mine (Swade) loves to quote these words; "Preach the Gospel always, and if you have to use words". Now I think we need to use words as well in order to explain sin, repentance, the Cross etc but I think that when the Apostle Paul told Timothy to watch his life and Doctrine that he hit on the fact that it is by lifestyle and words matching up together that people will see how great God is in our lives.
