CHRIST-FOLLOWING BEHAVIORS
” Matthew 5:13(ESV) “You are the salt of the earth” Matthew 5:14(ESV) “You are the light of the world”
These declarations were given by Jesus to his disciples in his sermon on the mount and are applicable to us as Christ-followers. We are to influence the world through our behaviors; those being driven by the Holy Spirit living within us. Paul later instructed how to exercise these declarations through behaviors: Colossians 3:17(ESV) And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
These Christ-following characteristics involve God in all things we do in our everyday lives. To bring honor to Christ in everything we do, we need to do what Jesus would do if he were in our place, to do it in His character.
To accomplish this, we need to establish some concrete everyday habits. What if we were waking up in Jesus’ name? How about greeting people in Jesus’ name? Treating people with respect and valuing time with them. Can we drive our vehicles in Jesus’ name? If we did, how different would our driving habits be?
How about working in Jesus’ name, which involves interest in our co-workers and their families, praying for them. What about spending money in Jesus’ name?
The point of all of this is that we have Christ living within us through the Holy Spirit, letting Him drive our behaviors, including Him in every action and every decision. That is living inside out and requires having an intentional transformation plan if we aren’t currently living this way.
We choose a Spiritual strategy whether we are intentional about it or not, with the result providing evidence of the choice. The resulting behaviors will be driven by how much and when we pray, how we handle money, how and when we worship; all of these lifestyle elements are within the process of transformation.
We can learn to be intentional, making the process a Spiritual discipline by writing down the process points we want to exercise every day, creating success for the strategy, if we will be disciplined about it.
Be salt and light!