Aren’t You One Of Them?

“But when they kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard
and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.
A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight.
She looked closely at him and said, ‘This man was with Him.’
But Peter denied it.’Woman, I don’t know Him,’ he said.
A little later someone else saw him and said, ‘You also are one of them.’
’Man, I am not!’ Peter replied.
About an hour later another asserted, ‘Certainly this fellow was with Him, for he is a Galilean.’
Peter replied, ‘Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!”
Luke 22:55-60a

I recently came across this portion of Scripture and it begged me to ask the question “Do people know I’ve been with Jesus?”

We know that all four Gospels has this story about Peter and we have heard countless sermons on his denial of Jesus and I’m not going to get into that. But I think, this question can speak something impactful to us.

One of the first things I notice is Peter was recognized for his proximity to Jesus. The crowds of people who listened to Jesus and watched Him perform miracles were also looking and watching those closet to Him.
So, if people know that we believe in Jesus and go to “that church”, what are they observing in how we act in the grocery store, coaching our kids’ game, volunteering at school or in the community, how we treat those who serve our meals to us or how we talk about others?

Another thing I noticed is that the servant “looked closely at him”. She burst his personal space bubble to really look at him.
What are those closest to us seeing? It gets harder to fool people when they are all up in your business.

The last thing that struck me was the man knew he was Galilean. Matthew 26: 73 says: “After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away?’” Some have said his clothes also gave him away.
Does our speech and what we wear reflect Jesus and where we come from? And I don’t mean your hometown; the sweatshirt from the college you went to or #blessed. I mean, are we speaking and wearing love, grace, forgiveness…you get the picture.

No matter where we find ourselves in this life, we are called to look like, act like, respond like, and speak like Jesus.

Jesus says in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.”

This wasn’t our idea, it was God’s, He wants us to be out there declaring who He is to those around us..with lives. The best part is He didn’t leave us on our own to figure it out. He provided a way for us to change and grow into all He has for us, including being like Jesus.

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:3&4
We are to be connected to Jesus at all times. He is the “True vine” John 15:1
We are made clean = purified, pruned, unmixed.

We are a new creation because of what Jesus did on the Cross for us. Jesus’ blood cleanses us and removes the stain of sin from our life, our thoughts, our beliefs, and our actions.

We are not destined to stay the same. We are not sentenced to “this is how I’ve always been.”
We have the opportunity, honor and privilege to be connected to Jesus AND to be clean from who we were.

What are people seeing when they watch us? If they were to see us in our cars - in our houses - in the middle of a crisis - do they see fruit that resembles Jesus and new life?
If we were asked, “Aren’t you a Jesus-follower?”, would we be embarrassed by our actions or words?

I used to work as a server at a Friendly’s restaurant in Mystic, CT. There was a family of three that would come in and not one of us would want to serve them. We would barter to do other’s side work or roll their silverware. They were obnoxious and their kid would make a huge mess everywhere and they would just leave. The saddest part was when one of the other servers asked me why they would act that way, since they were Christians and a local pastor at a church. I could not excuse their behavior or condone it. It was awful! And what a devastating and damaging way to represent Jesus in the community.

My prayer for us is that people will see Jesus and the fruit that comes from being connected to Him. Amen?!

I hope you have an amazing day!
Do something fun and find time to rest!
All My Love ~
Jodi xo

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