I enjoy action films—where things blow up, kidnappings happen, and heroic rescues win the day! That’s where I learned the phrase “proof of life.” When the police or loved ones get on the phone with a kidnapper, they want to know the person kidnapped is still alive—”proof of life.”
These days, in the age of bots and digital assistants, there’s another definition for proof of life! It’s becoming more and more difficult to know if the “person” you are on the phone or your computer with is a living human being! Before long, it won’t just be Siri, Alexa, or Watson! When we are in a customer service chat session, it will be with a digital robot—friendly, accommodating, and full of answers—but not alive!
So how does this relate to our current series on living a powerful, full life in Christ?
In polls and surveys, the definition of a Christian or evangelical varies greatly—and in many cases, all a person needs to say is that they attended a church or are affiliated with a certain denomination to belong to either of these classifications.
It’s unfortunate because God has a different view of what shows “proof of life” for a follower of Jesus. As has been said, “Going to church no more makes you a Christian than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger!”
Let’s look at some “proofs of life” from the letter to the Galatians. Three things that show we have authentic spirituality, and that we are more than spiritual bots!
3 Proofs of Life
- We have become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that He is who He says He is—Lord, God, redeemer, resurrected one who reigns in heaven—and has guaranteed that we are now adopted children of God.For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus… (Galatians 3:26 NLT).
- As children of God, the Holy Spirit lives in us. We now have the privilege and resource of God living in us, to guide, comfort, convict, and empower.And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child (Galatians 4:6,7 NLT).
Paul is saying to the Galatians that it’s not primarily your attention to rituals or rule keeping that gives you life in Christ, it’s the transforming activity of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:4-6).
- And we know for sure we have life when we see the Holy Spirit’s fruit being produced and showing up in our behavior, words, and thoughts.But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things (Galatians 5:22,23 NLT).
When you look in the mirror or your friends look upon your life do they see these three “proofs” of spiritual life in Christ?