As a Christian, someone who professes Christ as Savior and Lord, I am called to respond to life’s circumstances and situations in a way different from how I would "naturally’ respond. I am called to always love others. I am called to be honorable and respectful. I am called to be gentle and thoughtful. I am called to be patient and kind. I am called to be righteous in my actions and humble in my attitudes.

The problem is I do those things with little consistency and much variability.

The Christian Response is about looking at what is going on in the world using our imperfect human eyes and seeing the world through Christ’s perfect eyes.

Fortunately, we have Scripture, which is God’s words written by human hands – an amazingly accurate and consistent compiled document of books written over thousands of years by a vast array of writers. Much maligned, but not discounted, the Bible tells the story of Christ and gives us how we should live.

There are a few rules about using Scripture to respond to the world that I follow:

• I try to filter out my belief (or hope) that the Bible agrees with me and twist my thoughts to make them fit the Bible. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
  
• I try to discern that of which is important to God versus that which is important to man (i.e. me). (Romans 14:1)
  
• I try to look for the Biblical concept over the situational specific. For example, while there is no command – Thou Shalt Not Smoke Cigarettes there are a number of concepts in Scripture about how we should live and what actions we should (or should not) be doing. (Christ spells out this idea starting in Matthew 5:17 and forward when He tells the Old Testament Commandment and then gives an application to a circumstance).
  
• I seek to be shown my own short-comings through the sins in the world. (one of Christ’s lessons about the woman caught in adultery in John 8).
  

Finally, and most importantly, I hope, through my response, to emit God’s honor and praise because that is the essence of A Christian Response – to God alone be the glory.

For His Glory,
Tom