5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Doing Something in the Name of God

“The Devil is a motherf*@&!#$ liar!” or “I come in the name of Christ, B!%(#!” are not common statements you would expect to come out of a preacher’s mouth but that does not stop the “Angry Black Preacher” who I saw on You Tube. After watching several of his videos, I was convinced that he is either drunk, high, mentally “disadvantaged”…or all of the above!

Along with several other things that have transpired in the last few weeks (this post is actually based more on the other things than Angry Black Pastor's rants), him doing the crip-walk and berating callers with an onslaught of obscenities got the little gears in my brain working: Before we do something in the name of God, what questions should we ask ourselves?

1. What is my motive? Do I want to gain popularity? Do I just want to make money? Is my purpose really to help others?

2. Did I prayerfully seek God’s guidance and do I believe this is what He wants?

3. Who or what will I be glorifying? Is my goal, honestly, to bring glory to myself, God, or something that can be idolized (like possessions)?

4. Does what I plan to do line up with Biblical teaching? Some may say that life is full of gray areas--that most situations allow a follower of Christ to make one of several decisions. I, for one, have a differing opinion but, for the sake of argument, let’s say that this is correct. Wouldn’t you agree, however, that the Bible gives us many clear-cut, black-and-white instructions or standards? If we are doing something as a representative of Christ, we should try to live up to those standards to the best of our ability (which we all know is impossible but we have to give it a go!).

5. Will my method of delivery be a stumbling block for someone else? In an attempt to be better received, many times Christians try to appeal to the masses in their delivery methods. While I think that we need to show the world that being a Christian is not all about rules and is not stuffy and boring, I do not think we should look exactly like everyone else; remember we are supposed to be “in the world but not of it.” (Romans 12:2 and 1 John 2:15)

There is no way to know every event that will place a stumbling block in someone else’s life. Heck, one person could wear sandals in the summer and a second person, having a foot fetish, could start fantasizing about nibbling on toe jam and fall into lust. We just never know. I believe, though, there are several well-known, hard-to-resist circumstances that can place a small pebble or a large boulder in a person’s path who is trying to walk with God. Here are three that stand out in my mind:

• Others initiating gossip
• The opposite sex revealing skin and/or being sexually suggestive
• Christians portraying that there is no necessary change in lifestyle (behaviors, language, activities, etc) when you become a follower of Christ (new Christians will stay "lukewarm")

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Really, before we decide to do something in the name of God we must remember that we do not save people, God does. We can lower our standards and “go to people’s level” all day long but, in the end, I think that it is counter-productive. No matter what we do, if God has not called someone to Him and readied his/her heart, that person will not be saved. We just need to concern ourselves with honoring God’s word and bringing glory to Him.

What do you think about these five questions? Am I missing something? Leave a comment below!