The Marks of a Christian - Word and Spirit

Yesterday I read a couple of concerning news stories. A Muslim woman risks losing her job over wearing a veil and a Christian woman is suspended from her job at BA for wearing a cross. It seems that there is a growing secularist agenda to quash any “public expressions of religion”, and it may be that certain freedoms that Christians have previously enjoyed will be curtailed in the future.

The good news is though, that the true mark of a Christian is not wearing a cross. In Galatians 5:22,23 Paul lists marks of a Spirit-filled person…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I have always thought that the phrase “against such things there is no law” is a little strange in this context. But it is true. No matter how repressive a government regime might be for Christians, they cannot pass a law against demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. In fact we would be better off publicly expressing our faith using gentleness, kindness and patience than simply relying on crosses, fish stickers and WWJD wristbands.

StewartFan 15 October 2006

Just proves the Bible was written for all times, not just 2000 years ago. It's proven to be a living document just for these reasons. The two things you can always expect aren't death and taxes; it's change and the relevance (aka: guidance, comfort, knowledge) of every line in the Word.

dave 17 October 2006

very helpful insight...so, this Christian shouldn't be protesting then... instead she should stay and exhibit humility...

Luke Wood 31 October 2006

Happy Reformation Day!..Will I see you on November 25th? Hope that God is speaking to you clearly, one way or another. I assume you heard my story via email... going to reproduce it on my blog before too long. ..Maybe the first meeting could be based on your Full Faith format... I would like to see how one of those goes!