Begin with two minutes of stillness and silence before God.

I have always said that when I get to Heaven, besides Jesus, Paul is one of the first people I want to meet.  The reason for that is because of how much I love his boldness and straightforward bluntness.  In this passage, he comes out of the gate hot on Peter.  He tells us that when Peter got to Antioch he “opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.”  Oh to have been a fly on that wall!   

Paul recognized quickly that Peter was living a double life.  He acted one way for a little while - eating with the Gentiles, but then the men sent by James showed up and he started doubling back, separating himself from them.  Kind of like in high school when that kind-hearted football player sits with the lonely kid in the cafeteria, but when the rest of the team shows up, the other kid is back sitting by himself (no offense to high school football players- this is just an example).  Not only did Peter stop hanging out with the Gentiles, but his behavior caused others to join in his hypocrisy, which led Barnabas astray.  These may be some of the most convicting verses in Scripture.  I can think of many times in my life where I have been like Peter, intentionally or unintentionally.  And it makes me consider how my actions affected others and possibly even led them astray.  And that is a heavy feeling. 

I’m sure we can all relate to Peter, whether we want to or not.  Even if we aren’t acting differently around different people, we are often so worried about what others will think or say of us, that we let that influence what we say or do in our lives.  And whether we think it does or not, our behavior and words impact others.  Someone is always watching us, whether we know it or not.  More specifically, people are always watching Christians, waiting for us to mess up so that they can poke a hole in our faith.  Of course, we aren’t going to live perfectly every second of every day, but it is important to be aware of our words and actions.  It's important to live a life of consistency no matter who we are around and show the love of Jesus to our best friends and the 87 people on the same aisle as us in Wal-Mart (and that is a hard one for me sometimes).  

Also, just as Paul confronted Peter’s hypocrisy, we should be willing to confront behaviors in those around us that aren’t a reflection of Jesus.  We should also be willing to accept the same correction from others in our own lives.  Now, this is not me saying you go out and rip apart every person you see who makes a mistake- there is a Biblical procedure for this kind of thing.  What I'm saying is that we all need someone to hold us accountable, and we should be willing to hold others accountable in a loving manner, to prevent leading others astray.  No matter where you are in your faith journey, we are all responsible for leading others to Jesus, not away from Him - to elevate the Gospel rather than negate it.  As I write this, it is more to myself than anyone else.  But I am so thankful for a church family who walks alongside me in this faith journey and helps me be better than my flesh often wants to be! 

Take two minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflections: 

• Who can you influence in your circles? 
  
• Who may be watching you that you can strongly impact? 
  
• In what ways can you live more consistently with everyone you come in contact with?
• Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for your Holy Spirit and for convicting me when my actions are negatively impacting others. I pray that You would use the people around me to speak the truth into me and help me become more like You! In Jesus' name, Amen.