"Be in the world, not of it"

We live in a broken world filled with imperfect people. Christians are included in the category of "imperfect people." The balance of being aware of the world and managing to not get caught up in worldly passions is a consistent battle for Christians. However, this does not give Christians an excuse for acting like everyone else.

As Christians, we are supposed to be like Jesus, set apart, holy and pure. Unfortunately, it is obvious that often times we fail, and non-believers notice. The moment a person is labeled a Christian, people tend to hold them to high standards. Christians' standards are to glorify God in everything we do. However, remember that by no means are we perfect because our human nature holds imperfections too.

For example, the tongue, which has a way of its own, is not perfect. According to the Bible, it is something that we have to tame, consistently discipline, due to our human nature. Today, my professor gave a good example of human nature.

"It is not natural to be calm and collective in an argument... It is natural to call the other person out and count all 'the points' you make from your rebuttals," he said. "Natural? There is nothing natural about it."

Thus, this is why Christians are encouraged to tame their tongue in controversy so they do not use it like a sword. We should remember to take this into account whenever speaking or acting because what we do or what we say effects non-believers' views.

In class, we learned that only 22 percent of non-Christians have a positive view of evangelicals, according to Barna's poll. This percentage does not surprise me. With the way some Christians carry themselves and the unfortunate growing number of conflicts within the church, it is no wonder why people have a negative view of Evangelicals.