Do Christians Have a Higher Standard?

Should we, as Christians sharing our faith to a lost world, hold ourselves to a higher standard of behavior than those to whom we're witnessing? I say yes.

When Christians don't practice what they preach, especially when they don't practice the one thing most unchurched people think Christianity is about (love!), they give people an excuse to not explore the Christian faith.

Our job is to pull people in, not drive them away. When we annoy people by not being nice, if we come across as mean, bitter people, we can cause people to dismiss everything else we say. How many times have you heard someone use the excuse "If those people are Christians I don't want to have anything to do with it!" to not take the first steps toward following God?

Like it or not, people judge what they see. If they see us claim to follow Jesus, but don't appear to love our neighbor, they'll see the hypocrisy straight away. Especially if they see those people as being holier-than-thou in other areas.

I don't want to stand before Jesus and hear him tell me about the people who turned away from him because of my example. I think that places a higher standard on those of us who are trying to spread God's word.