“He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap” (1 Timothy 3:7).
How unbelievers see Christians has a great impact on our influence with them. Whether they will hear us or not will be greatly affected by what they observe in our behavior.
H. A. Ironside, who pastored Moody Church in Chicago, told of a Muslim who was converted and attended his church. At a picnic someone was distributing sandwiches and offered him a choice between ham and beef. He selected beef.
The server said, “Don’t you know that as a Christian you can eat ham?”
He said, “My father’s a Bedouin and a Muslim. I visit him each year and when I come to the tent he says, ‘Have those infidels taught you to eat that filthy pig meat yet?’ If I say ‘yes’ I will never again be able to talk to my father and tell him about Jesus.”
The bottom line for every believer is that we live in a way that we can influence those who don’t know Jesus to believe in Him.
