Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Keith Simon.

How can you tell if someone is a Christian?

If you see a hijab, you know the person is a Muslim.

If you see a red dot on a person's forehead, you know they're

Hindu. A yamika? Well, they're Jewish. But Christians? We don't have a uniform or a hat to put on.

We have different ethnicities. We listen to different music. We wear different clothes. So how can you tell

if someone is a Christian? Jesus gives us the answer in John 13. He said, by this, everyone will know that

you are my disciples if you love one another. Love, that's supposed to be the defining mark of a

Christian. But honestly, that makes me wonder, have I ever seen a Christian? Because when I look around

to how Christians treat one another, including how I treat others, on social media or in church politics or denominational divides, I wonder.

Facebook fights, Twitter meltdowns, theological tribalism, political wars, racial tensions, sometimes it's hard to tell whether we're following Jesus or just looking for a holy war.

But it's always been like that. Judges 12 is one of those tragic moments in Israel's history, where the greatest threat

doesn't come from an outside enemy. It comes from inside the people of God. Jeptha, the judge of

Israel, has just led a victorious battle against the Ammonites. But instead of celebrating,

the tribe of Ephraim shows up furious. They weren't invited to the fight, and they feel robbed of the

glory. They threatened to burn Jephthah's house down over it. Judges 12-1. The Ephraimites ask Jeptha,

why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling

us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head. This isn't the first time

the tribe of Ephraim has pulled something like this. They did the same thing to Gideon back in

Judges 8, complaining that they weren't included in the battle. But unlike Gideon, who de-escalated the situation with diplomacy,

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