The easiest thing to do in a world in which we are able to communicate to one another through words, is to consistently say the right words, knowing that by doing so, in many an instance, those words to the other, may well take precedence over subsequent actions. That is to say, people are fond of saying how much they love somebody, or that they are just about to accomplish this or that task, which often sounds quite good, but if there isn’t any follow up to the words so spoken which thus seconds them, then those words are indeed false, for they do match what has been promised or implied.
So then, for instance, there are those people that insist that they love Jesus, but very little about their subsequent actions to others reflects such love, for they are themselves mean-spirited, or selfish, or self-centered, or deceitful, or just plain lazy. Look, it has to be said, each day we are provided with choices, or pathways to take, of which those choices are ours to make, for better or for worse, and those that consistently make choices which are sinful, wrong-headed, and bad, are at best, very poor exemplars of the Christian spirit, or more truthfully, they aren’t really Christian.
To really love Christ, must mean that we follow His lighted pathway and thus take upon ourselves the good attributes of that same Christ, or else, we don’t really love Christ. If we lack the discipline or the wisdom to do the right thing, then we aren’t Christ followers, but rather we are followers of our own darkness and ignorance. To make a mistake, isn’t really sinful, it just is wrong and all those that do wrong, have got to realize that to honor that which is right, they must themselves do their level best to do right, and whenever they are thereby off-track, they need to get back to where they need to be so as to stay on that pathway of Light.
To carry the symbol of Christ, but never to act in a manner which reflects the goodness of Christ, signifies that we are not lovers of Christ, at all. “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16), and only those then that bring forth good fruit are Christians. To be a Christian, must mean to conduct our lives in a meaningful and purposeful way, of which, we thus keep our eyes focused upon the prize, so as not to waver from our sacred duty to not only ourselves, but to those that we interact with, day by day. There are indeed no shortcuts to being a Christian, for words cheaply and insincerely spoken are not going to do much of anything to get us to the only destination that really matters. The choice that each of us has to make is a stark one, which really comes down to whether we prefer to act the fool and to be therefore obstinate in our wrongness, or whether we will exert ourselves to be something of merit, by lending our hand to the doing of the right thing, so as to uphold righteousness on behalf of the goodness of Christ.