Christians Embarass Me

I was talking to a waitress one day who told me that she doesn’t go to church because most of the Christians she knows act like hypocrites. She sees them in the restaurant after church on Sundays. They wear their Sunday clothes, put on their Sunday smiles and talk their Sunday talk. They all hold hands, bow their heads and corporately give thanks to God for the food and fellowship. And then the most amazing transformation takes place. They begin to complain about the food and the service, they are rude to the waitresses and they leave lousy tips. Regretfully, I had to agree with her; I’ve seen them too! Sometimes Christians embarrass me with their behavior. I think it would be better if they would keep quiet about their profession so no one would know.

Alexander the Great received a message that one of his soldiers had been continually, and seriously, misbehaving and thereby shedding a bad light on the character of all the Greek troops. And what made it even worse was that this soldier's name was also Alexander. He sent word that he wanted to talk to the errant soldier in person. When the young man arrived at the tent of Alexander the Great, the commander asked him, "What is your name?" "Alexander, sir," he replied. The commander looked him straight in the eye and said forcefully, "Soldier, either change your behavior or change your name."

This story has a lesson for each of us. When we call ourselves Christians, we are identifying with Jesus Christ. Does our behavior honor the one we represent or are we an embarrassment to Him?

“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.” James 1:26