“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”
Ephesians 4:17
There’s a saying that goes, “If it looks like a duck and it swims like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.”
The idea is that what something is can usually be identified by what that thing looks like and does. You can tell the difference between a cow and a horse because it looks different and sounds different than a horse. You can tell the difference between a chicken and an eagle because one flies and one doesn’t.
In the same way, you can tell the difference between a Christian and an unbeliever by the way they act differently, talk differently, serve differently, and love differently. But if a person walks, talks, and acts like an unbeliever, chances are, regardless of what they may claim, they’re an unbeliever.
You see, just calling yourself a Christian doesn’t make you one. Being a Christian means believing in Jesus Christ. Believing in Jesus means obeying his commands and living the way he instructed us to live.
Paul is telling us in this verse that we can’t walk like an unbeliever and talk like an unbeliever and live the same kind of life as an unbeliever but still call ourselves a Christian. Our goal as Christians is not to blend into the world, to look like everyone else, to be indistinguishable from the culture we live in. It’s the opposite of that. Christians should stand out from the crowd, loving and serving and speaking in such a way that there is an unmistakable difference between them and unbelievers. That’s what points people to Christ. That’s what Jesus meant when he called us the light of the world. That’s what Paul meant when he told the church in Philippi to “shine like stars in the universe.”
We’re not called to blend in to the world, we’re called to stand out for Christ.
Prayer:
Father,
Thank you for the calling you’ve given us, to stand out from the world, to be unique and distinguishable from the rest. I pray that we would truly follow you in a way that makes people notice that we’re different, and that this difference will lead them to you.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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