how are Christians different?

Today we hear from Athenagoras in A Year with the Church Fathers. He tells us that those who teach philosophy in his home town don’t produce the kind of results that people want. They know their way around arguments and sentences, but they don’t know how to love people.

That is both an encouragement and a challenge to us Christians today. Because Athenagoras goes on to say that Christianity can be seen as true when we look at the works of Christians. We are made up, he says, of uneducated people, old women, and blue collar workers. But we love, he says. We take care of each other. We turn the other cheek. We act in meekness and joy and peace and love.

Would Athenagoras be able to say that about your life? I know for me there are days when he would probably be proud of me, and days (too many of them) when he wouldn’t.

Let’s pray that we have more of the good days.

Thank You, God, for giving us such a great goal to aim for.