How Do You Recognize a Christian? | Part 11 | It All Adds Up – 1 John 5:1-12 | Jon Sprouse

It All Adds Up
How Do You Recognize a Christian?
August 15, 2021

In an online article titled ‘Why We Believe Things’ David Harding, CEO of Winton, a research-based investment management company, writes, “When we truly believe something it profoundly influences our actions. These actions can then exert a powerful influence on the beliefs of others.” Consider for a minute the things you believe. There are things you believe because of your physical senses, such as it’s hot outside today or that the sky is blue or that something on the stove is burning. Then, there are things that you believe based on past experience: that a chair you’ve never sat in before won’t collapse on you or that your car will start when you get in to go to work or that it will get dark later. There are also more abstract things you believe, because the truth of them has been testified to by a trustworthy source; things such as lying is wrong, that gravity exists, and that the earth is round.

Every decision you make, every word you speak, every action you take is directly linked to what you REALLY believe. So, as people who say they believe in Jesus, does the way we live, day in and day out, line up with what we say, or do our actions speak a louder and contradicting message from our words?

We are continuing in our series How Do You Recognize a Christian this Sunday. We’ve looked at several characteristics that should mark the lives of a Christ-follower over the last couple of months. This week we’ll be taking a look at the concepts of faith, understanding, and belief and how those things impact how we live.

If David Harding is right, and what you believe profoundly influences your actions, what does your life say about what you really believe? Let’s consider that together.