Underneath...

One of my favorite movies (and what I believe to be the best comic book movies ever made) is Batman Begins. During the movie the female lead, Rachel Dawes, tells the protagonist, Bruce Wayne, "It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you." Later, when Rachel asks Batman who he is, he repeats it back to her. Believe it or not, that quote from a comic book movie correlates directly with the Christian walk. While we can't do anything to earn our salvation we still have a responsibility to live a life that represents our savior well.

During those years where I basically did what I wanted to do that would include many times where I would lose my temper with someone in the car (yes....road rage. Hulk Smash! j/k), Or maybe I'd do something underhanded at work to get back at someone treating me poorly. I believed in God underneath, but what did that accomplish when I failed to represent him out in the open?

Even now, as I'm walking with the Lord, I need to constantly remember that as Christians, we have to act like it. We have to be the people of God we are told to be in James. We have to be the best examples for living in this world. Sometimes its by our example that someone asks about Jesus. However, sometimes the examples we see on television about Christians are the wrong ones. Anyone remember the person who bombed an abortion clinic in Florida years ago in the name of God? That memory has stuck with me. It's not the Christian that hides underneath that defines us, but our every day walk with the Lord.

For more on this, the book of James (especially chapters 1 and 2) is an outstanding source.