A young man recently competed athletically against four young women in a college-level swimming event. He had some physical advantages over the women but was allowed to participate anyway. He was born a male but had convinced some people that he was a female.
Those young women were born biologically female. The man took the competition. Does a mere claim make something true? Was he able to prove his gender?
Why should someone be forced to believe that which isn’t logically the truth?
Jesus presented the criteria for knowing what is truth. He spoke to a group who rejected His words, saying, “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
“And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned” (Matthew 12:34-36). Words can be powerful. They either convict or they commend.
When you claim your faith, how can you prove it? By living it! Words are cheap if not backed up by actions.
If someone claims that he or she is a Christian, Jesus asks for proof. What words does he or she use to prove it? When professing love for Jesus, does the person, by his or her actions, contradict those words?
If anyone speaks in harmony with the world, he cannot also speak in harmony with Jesus. A few months ago a young man claimed to love his wife, but when he tried to kill her within mere hours after speaking those words, he convicted himself.
Jesus often spoke about those who claimed one thing, yet were something else. He said, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
He also said, “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-19).
Please read in your own Bible what Jesus says next. You don’t want to be like those false prophets. Jesus spoke in terms of eternal loss. He warns against saying one thing and being another.
Does this describe your life? Do you have to tell people that you are a Christian, or can they see that you are by the way you live your life? How can you prove it?