Texas Baptists urged to live generously in a self-centered world

Jeff Johnson delivered the President's Address at the BGCT annual meeting in Waco. (BGCT Photo)

image_pdfimage_print

WACO— In a society that pursues self-centered goals—wealth, comfort and fame—lives characterized by generosity get people’s attention, Baptist General Convention of Texas President Jeff Johnson told Texas Baptists’ 2014 annual meeting.

Altruism, even among some Christians, surprises people, said Johnson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Commerce, who completed his term as BGCT president at the annual meeting.

bgct johnson300Christians need to “show and tell” their faith at the same time, BGCT President Jeff Johnson told messengers at the annual meeting in Waco. (BGCT Photo)Too often, people who claim to follow Christ fail to live the difference—living in ways that demonstrate their professed faith, he noted.

Johnson reported a lesson he learned from an elementary school teacher’s instruction to her class: “You are to show and you are to tell. And if you don’t do them at the same time, it’s not going to be believable.”

The first chapter of John’s Gospel identified Jesus Christ as the Word of God, and it notes the Word became flesh, he said.

Living out faith is the key, and doing it demands transformation, he stressed. To illustrate, he described how a caterpillar goes through metamorphosis, where it risks everything to go into the cocoon. In the end, it emerges as a beautiful butterfly, but it was not an easy process.

“This is the reason why the butterfly is an authentic symbol of resurrection,” Johnson said. “It’s not because it’s cute. It’s because it risks dying to be born to new life—and then lives the difference.”

As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12, Christians are not to be conformed, but rather transformed, Johnson insisted.

“Texas Baptists, is anyone asking about your hope? Our hope? About why you live differently?” he asked. “If no one is asking, perhaps (we are) not living the difference enough to pique curiosity. Christ calls us to be radically different and other-centered.”


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


“Living the difference” inevitably demands hard work, he insisted. Just like fulfilling household chores takes responsibility, so also living altruistically takes determination.

“May we be the tangible evidence that God is at work in the world and truly cares about every level of human need,” he challenged Texas Baptists. “Live the difference.”


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard