This week my kids and I conducted a very important experiment: can you tell the difference between the corn, wheat, oats and rice Cheerios with your eyes closed? It was the ultimate taste test. Could they tell what was underneath the sugary exterior even though the outside coating was identical?

It turns out they could.

It made me wonder: can other people tell the difference between those of us who call ourselves Christians and those who don’t?

For the most part we all have the same outside coating. We have nice clothes, great schools, pretty decent homes. We all talk about and seek to live lives that are authentic, kind, considerate… so if the exterior is the same, what makes the difference underneath?

Jesus says there are a few things that will set us apart and show the world that we’re his disciples:

• If we hold to his teaching (John 8:31),
• If we’re fruitful (John 15:8), and
• The way in which we love one another (John 13:35)

They pretty much all tie together. If we hold to his teaching then we will be fruitful and we will love one another. Simples. But the reality of living this way is much tougher. Loving and praying for your enemy, turning the other cheek when someone has wronged you, loving and serving those that drive you nuts, loving and caring for the last, the least and the lost…

Some days I find it hard enough loving the people I’ve chosen to love let alone the weird, wacky and downright peculiar.

Dear children… the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4 NIV)

The outside may look similar, but we’re not the same on the inside. God dwells within us! He has equipped us with every spiritual blessing so we might complete every good work. He supplies us with everything good needed to do what He wants. He has placed his Spirit within us.

Don’t despair if you think you’re not making the mark you want to as a disciple. Go back to his teaching and ask Jesus to increase because you can only do it with his help (Hebrews 13:21 NiRV).