If you’ve read the Left Behind series, you know that author’s Jenkins and LaHaye portray late tribulation Christians as having a mark on their forehead that only other Christians recognize. Everyone else wears the mark of the beast.

Yesterday at the pool, my toddler found another toddler to play around with. This other toddler’s parents were there, and also two older siblings. I found myself wondering if they were Christians just by some simple observations.

One, the mom, in her maternity suit, was relaxing at pool’s edge reading a book. Of course, I angled myself to see what she was reading and it was a non-fiction, nothing scandalous.

My second observation was that this was a young couple (mid-to-late twenties?) and they had 3 young children and another on the way. In this culture, that is a big step of faith, don’t you think?

Last, their two little girls were in one piece bathing suits. Now why would they do that? I mean, two piece suits are much easier to maneuver for diaper changes and trips to the bathroom. And two piece suits are generally more available, and sometimes more adorable than their one piece counterparts!

It just made me stop and think. What about us and our actions reveals our heart? I don’t “judge” others for letting their toddlers wear bikinis. In fact, when my oldest was that age my sil and mil were always buying cute two pieces and for a while I stifled my inner convictions and told myself it was convenient and okay. After all, we are not under law but under grace.

I could be completely wrong about this family. I wish I’d gone out on a limb and asked but I didn’t.

As the culture erodes more and more of our Christian values, how will the rest of the population know we are Christians? Is it obvious?

Maybe it should be.