You Will Know Them By Their Fruits by Maureen Kambarami

The current pandemic has made community acts of faith especially important because of the closures of churches in a bid to slow down the spread of the virus. Even in countries where churches have been allowed to open, the limit on the number of attendees means that only a few people can be accommodated at a time, making virtual services the order of the day.

The pandemic has also crippled the economies of many countries, leaving in its trail, loss of jobs and businesses, high unemployment rate, and poverty. This means that more people than ever are now reliant on charitable drives to secure at least one decent meal a day. However, because of lockdowns, most churches have closed their doors, temporarily halting various charitable drives like soup kitchen programs. Therefore, the onus is now on each one of us to be our neighbor’s keeper by checking up on them and lending a hand whenever possible. Now is the time to put our faith in action as expected—“for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:8, NIV).

Recently, during our weekly Bible study, the facilitator posed the question, “Imagine you are on trial for being a Christian. Are your accusers going to find enough evidence to convict you?” If we want to be honest, many of us would be able to go scot-free because our faith only leads us to church every Sunday where we listen attentively and with conviction but as soon as we step out of church all is forgotten until the following Sunday comes knocking at our door. The same cycle continues each week, month, and year. It is not surprising that we have drawn no outsider into our circle because it is not words that matter most to non-believers, but our actions. Our lives therefore should be enough testimony to draw others to God.

I remember during my early years in the social work profession, a young lady approached me one day. Her beaming face puzzled me, and I was still struggling to place her face in context when she came to my rescue.

“I want to thank you for being such an inspiration in my life. I learned so much just by observing you at work, and I ended up getting drawn to the profession because of your influence. I then made the resolution that I also want to bring about change in my community and I hope to be the best just like you!”

I do not want to lie. That compliment made my ears sing with joy until something else struck me, which made me uneasy. I realized I was a representative of my profession and whatever I did during the execution of my duties, could either elevate or break the profession. The scary part was that I never knew who was watching at any given time. The same is true of us as Christians, the way we live our lives can either point others to God or lead them astray. We can never be sure of who is watching us, that is why it is forever important to remain true to our calling all the time, no matter what circumstances we might face in our lives. It is quite easy to be a Christian when all is well in our lives and joy is abundant, but it is during trials and tribulations that our true identity is revealed.

I pray God will continue keeping us safe and that our world will return to normal as soon as possible. However, until that happens, let us take care of our neighbors. Remember, you might be the only Bible that some people will ever read.