The Mark

     People often advertise things about them by the amount or type of jewelry they wear.  I have not worn a lot of jewelry in my lifetime.  I did have my Dad's Civilian Conservaton Corps  ring with a green pine tree on it and I purchased a ring at Wall Drug in South Dakota that had an agate stone with some moss in it.  While working at A. T. and T., we were discouraged from wearing any type of jewelry while working on circuits.  There was the story going around of a broker who was purchasing 5,000 bushels of soybeans and just as he placed the order, a communication worker shorted out two lugs on the frame causing the order to jump up to 50,000 bushels.  All employees were told not to wear anything that could ground out two lugs on the frame of any circuit.  I have also noticed that there are a lot of high church officials who wear what is called a Pectoral Cross which is rather big, shiny and tells everyone what they are.  It is not, however, what we wear that tells of our Christian faith.  John 17:20-21 says, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
       Francis Sheaffer wrote a book called, "The Mark of the Christian."  In the Book he spends a lot of time pointing out what doesn't define a Christian and the true characteristic of a Christian.  It wasn't the jewelry that tells the difference.  People may wear crosses, rings, carry large Bibles, have messages on the bumpers of their cars and all the other like gimmicks, but they still haven't established who they are.  The book goes on to say that the true mark of the Christian is defined in the above passage of Scripture.  In fact, there is a great commission or reason for that mark and it is the testimony that goes out to the world that the Father sent the Sonl.  The reason for that belief is found in the few words before which state, "..l.That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee..."   The difficulty often lies in the fact that Christians have a hard time getting along with other Christians.  It should not be that way but in all honesty, it is.  What statement are you making in your life as you go out into the world today?  Praise God today that He indeed sent His Son to pay for our sins.