The Cross You Carry

A busy schedule prevents us from playing Thursday night poker this week (note also our preceding post). But we still have thoughts about last Thursday, and the man at the table with a cross around his neck.

Do you consider everyone wearing a cross to be a Christian? If you do, be careful. If someone goes all-in at the start of an online poker tournament, should we assume they automatically have pocket Aces? They could be bluffing with 5-8, hoping to scare people out of a pot. Consider these words....

Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment. -- John 7:24

Jesus said this as bystanders made all sorts of guesses about who or what He was. If you happened upon one of Jesus's miracles, you might have been stumped as well. Matthew 16:13-17 shows He actually was the Christ -- from the Old Testament word for "Messiah." By comparison....

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. -- Matthew 6:5-6

Jesus's leading critics were Pharisees, who often made a show out of washing themselves (Mark 7:3-4). While the Lord performed public miracles, He cautioned believers against calling too much attention to themselves with their godly acts.

We realize people can wear crosses for all sorts of reasons. (It even was a pop fashion trend several years ago.) So we don't jump to conclusions in either direction about such displays -- not to dismiss them as overly self-righteous, but also not to assume they're believers at all.