“Making Disciples Through Behaviour, Not Words!”

“Making Disciples Through Behaviour, Not Words!”(I Pt.3:1-7).
Paul wrote, “Do not be yoked together with unbbelievers”, for righteousness and wickedness have nothing in common and light has no fellowship with darkness. “Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be seperate…”(II Cor.6:14-18).
This passage has been a cause for seperation and divorce of many couples when a spouse becomes a Christian and the other one is not. Christian churches sometimes use the passage to block intended marriages on the grounds that one partner is not a Christian.
Paul did not intend for his words to become a barrier to love on the grounds of people’s religious affiliations. God is present whenever and wherever the bonds of love is strong. Paul’s words was a warning against idolatory and should not be lifted out of context.
A couple divorced because each time they had a misunderstanding the Christian wife started singing, “I am married to Jesus, Satan leave me alone. My husband is coming to take me with him…” The husband who was a nonChristian considered this to be an affront.
Those have taken the vow of chastity to serve Christ are the ones who can say they are married to Jesus and mean what they say.
According to Peter a Christian wife should be an evenagelist to her nonChristian husband. He writes, “Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentile and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight…”
The submission of a wife to her husband is not tantamount to subjugation. It is simply that to any ship there must be captain.
Husbands on their part have to “be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
These admonitions to godly couples is within the broader context of living godly lives in a godless society. Christians are in the world but they are not of the world. However, while they are in this world they are bound to live with those who are of the world. What sets them apart is that they should through their inner beauty and character exemplify Christ, such that their lifestyles become effective tools of evangelisation than words.
In summary we should live lives that reflect the light of Christ in a dark world. Let us live with the consciousness that as Christians our lives are the only Bibles that others read! Let us treat people according to their statuses!
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit give me the inner unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet heart. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.