The Name

  I have mentioned how I was searching for a Christian during the past Easter season only finding that they were few and far between, at least in the hospital in which I was a patient.  Different ethnic groups had different names, mostly derogatory and given by other ethnic groups.  Like a caricature it would be due to some specific trait that would mark them as being different from other groups of people.  Early Christians were not a popular group of people and so it was a little more difficult to detect who was a Christian and who was not.  A tradition states that they sometimes drew half of a fish and if the other person was a believer, they would complete the picture either on the ground or even in the dust, making the outline of a whole fish.  Acts 11:26 says, “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught many people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”  The tradition states that the Greek word for fish forms an acronym which stands for Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.  The fish symbol has become a popular item in some book stores for display on cars, books, walls in the home or business, denoting the occupants as believers.  I still recall the statement of a nurse, in the dark as she drew my blood, when I asked her if she was a Christian.  Her reply, “No.  I don’t know what I am.”  Sad to say, this seems to be the state of many people in the world today.  They are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and actually have no real belief of their own to claim.  They are true in stating that they don’t know what they are.  Before the time of Constantine, you could be killed for being a Christian and the time may be returning sooner than we think to our own culture.  We may find ourselves returning to drawing fish in the sand or on the dust of a table top to indicate our faith to someone else.  To do so, will indicate that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s Son and your Savior.  Those days may well be approaching but in the meantime, are you seeking out those that believe?  Are you asking others about their faith?  I am finding that the older I get, the more freely I ask questions of others.   “Where are you from?”  “Do you go to church?”  “ Are you a believer?”  We often miss out on wonderful opportunities to meet people and even to find out that some are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise God today that He sent His Son to die for our sins.  Are we willing to speak out for Him?