I must always remember that God is not looking merely for men, but for congruent men; not merely disciples, but congruent disciples. For example, when God wanted to show men what He was like, He sent Jesus Christ into the world dressed in human flesh. Jesus Christ was congruent to the personality of God. Isn’t that what He said to Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14:9).
Congruency is God’s method of using a life to explain a principle or a truth. Nowhere in the Bible is there a textbook on faith. But the Bible presents Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham to show what faith is by the way they lived. Hebrews 11 could easily be called the congruency of faith. When God wanted to show us what His love was like, He made it congruent in the death of His Son on Calvary.
We who are Christians are expected to show the world the congruency of the gospel. Paul urges, Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27, NIV). The gospel is simply a collection of words, terms, and phrases, all of which are difficult to understand unless they are made clear by someone’s life. Looking at us, the unsaved community should be able immediately to see a connection between what we are and what the gospel is declaring.
Even more, we Christians are expected to show each other the congruency of many of God’s wonderful truths. Truths that are difficult to understand, such as intercession, identification, and crucifixion, become wonderfully clear when they are made congruent in us. My life should be, as was Paul’s, a pattern of the way God works with men. How exciting to be God’s chosen pedagogue! God help me to be a congruent Christian!
That you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
