What If I Stumble?

The band DC Talk performs a song called “What If I Stumble?” The song begins with this sobering message:

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today
Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

The artist then goes on to discuss his fear of living with the knowledge that the world is watching him, watching his Christian walk (especially as someone in the public eye), and he might stumble, he might fall and let them all down.

Most of us are probably familiar with the saying, “You may be the only Jesus some may ever see.” And that’s true. We all know someone who will never set foot inside a church and will scoff at the idea of reading the Bible. We are Christ’s representatives on Earth. We are His body. The world looks at us and decides whether getting to know Jesus is worth their effort. It’s an awesome responsibility. It makes me sad when my behavior doesn’t line up with who I profess to be in Christ. But it happens.

When I started to write this column, I wanted to say that people shouldn’t look at other people to decide if Christianity is for them; they should look at Jesus and how He lived His life. Only Jesus is perfect; people will let you down every time. This is also true, and I’m struggling to reconcile these paradoxical truths. Unbelievers will watch us and form judgments about Christianity. At the same time, we’re imperfect and we will disappoint them. God does not want us filled with fear or self-condemnation. What should be our attitude here?

What's probably most important is that we're "real" people. If we're willing to admit when we make mistakes, if we acknowledge that we don't always hit the mark, and if we're humble and apologize to others, the world will see that Christians aren't perfect, but we do serve a perfect God.