One time there was a girl who met a boy at a bar. There was the loud music, drinking, revelry, and everything else that usually goes along with that kind of activity. She, however, attended church and claimed to be a Christian. She thought that a person could be a Christian and still enjoy such worldly pleasures. As they danced, she asked the boy, "Are you a Christian?" He said, "No, are you?" And she replied, "Yes, I am." He then asked, "What are you doing here then?"

There are certain things that the world expects of a Christian, and rightly so, because the Bible teaches that Christians are not of the world. (John 17:16) They are not conformed to this world. (Rom. 12:2) They are to come out from the world and be separate. (2 Cor. 6:14, 17)

The world has a right to expect that a Christian be honest in his dealings. We are to work with our hands to give to him that is in need. (Eph. 4:28) We are instructed to be honest in the sight of God and our fellow man. (2 Cor. 8:21) Slaves were instructed to serve their masters "not with eye service, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart . . . " (Eph. 6:6) Today, this would apply to employer-employee relationships.

The world has a right to expect Christians to be law abiding citizens. Jesus taught His disciples to pay their just taxes. They were to render "to Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's" (Matt. 22:21) In Rom. 13:1 Paul wrote that we "be in subjection to the higher powers" and that the "powers that be are ordained of God." That simply means that we are to obey the laws of the land. We are to obey those laws as they do not conflict with the laws of God, but we must always "obey God rather than man". (Acts 5:29)

The world has a right to expect Christians to be examples of morality. Morals have to do with our relationship with our fellow man. The Bible teaches the highest code of morals known to man. No man, for example, has ever been able to improve upon the Ten Commandments. Under Moses' law, there were laws that forbade the overt action of sin, but Jesus went behind the action to the motive of the heart. He taught that we sin because our heart is not right in the sight of God. There is a passage in the Bible that says, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The thought is often translated into action. Therefore, the Bible teaches us to discipline our minds, to take control of our hearts. Jesus taught that the Christian will be a good example and will as the light of the world and salt of the earth. (Matt. 5:14-16) The Christian needs to keep his temper under control, his life under control, and words under control. The world has a right to expect a Christian to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)

The world has a right to expect Christians to help those who are in need. This is what Jesus practiced and preached. James says to "visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction." (James 1:27) And, Paul wrote that we are to do good unto all men, "especially unto them of the household of faith." (Gal. 6:10)

The world has a right to expect that Christians will share with it the gospel. Usually, people say they do not like to be preached to, but the Christian has an obligation to "preach the word" . . Christians are sometimes called "Jesus Freaks", but like Paul, we are debtors to take the gospel into all the world.