Christians in the wild and their natural habitat

As a child, I regularly watched “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”.  “Wild Kingdom” was one of the first shows to bring exotic, remote areas of the world into people’s living rooms.  Also, people got to see the animals in their native habitat and view the animal’s behavior.  The show provided people a method of determining how a tiger differs from a cheetah or a zebra from a horse.

Over the last year, my LTS (Long Term Spouse) and I have been seeking a new church home.  We have found a potential “home” that we have been attended for several months.  This has given us the opportunity to view Christians in their natural habitat.  Within this habitat, a lot of different Christians exist: babes, teenagers, mature, and senior.

This Christian family contains people who are emotional, some who are extroverted, some who are quiet and some who are vocal.  But the common thread is they all belong to Christ through his blood, death, and resurrection.  Whatever a Christian’s “style” is, one objective, for each Christian, remains constant: can you be identified as a Christian.  We all at one time or another may exhibit non-Christian behavior which may allow us to show non-Christians we are not perfect.

Just think of a tiger: sometimes agile, quiet and other times clumsy, noisy.  The basic nature of the tiger is to be agile and quiet but every once in awhile the tiger will stumble.  A tiger doesn’t just sit down and admit failure.  Instead the tiger continues on but learns from his mistake and to be careful.  Christians should follow the tiger’s example: learn from our mistakes.  We should not just sit down because of failure but continue because of it.

A great example of continuing on after a failure is Peter.  Talk about a BIG boo-boo.  Peter was in daily contact with Jesus and Peter still denied he knew Christ.  But Peter was a rock on which the church was built.  Also, Jesus had no doubts about Peter.  In Luke 22:32, Jesus told Peter to “strength your brothers” when you have turned back.  After Peter was “knocked down”, Jesus expected Peter to get up, dust himself off, and minister to people.

Christians live in a hostile habitat containing obstacles, perils, and worries.  We should always be mindful that someone is watching and studying us in the wild (the world) and in our natural habitat (the church).  Our objective should be a daily effort to be identified as a Christian.