I was just thinking and I realized that the few really spirit-filled people I know just go when God calls, and they don't hesitate to listen... they're just out doing God's work among any and everybody...
And then I thought about people like me who sit back and critique everyone to death. Critiquing the method of spreading the Gospel, wrestling with questions, and problems, and just feeling completely defeated by the fact that I'm not outgoing, I'm not having an impact for Christ, I don't know anyone who will be willing to come to church with me. . I want to be someone who nonchristians and normal people want to hang out with... I do NOT want to encapsulate myself in this Christian bubble and render myself useless to a culture that needs people who understand them.
My point is that even though working through the hard questions of being a Christian is good, I hate that it's so much of a drain on me that I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I feel lost when I see how several really spiritual people I know just live their lives completely..... Jesus-ified... and the questions of "how is best to reach Bible belt Christians" and any other tough question you can come up with doesn't hold them back... while it holds me back. What do I have to do to become more outgoing, to get people to come to church with me, to even want to bring others along? I spend my whole week thinking about me! I'm sick of it.
I read a quote in Blue Like Jazz today. Glad that finally something hit me hard.
"If I don't introduce people to Jesus, then I don't believe Jesus is an important person."
It's true. And I hate that in my heart I just don't care enough about it to change it. I hate being the type of person who started walking with Christ only to start living out my passion for Him years later. I hate being the type of Christian that people point at and say, "How typical."
Hey George, as Christians we will face and come across people who label us as stereotypes - I face it all the time. Don't let it get to you, just keep in mind that all that matters is what God thinks of you, not what they think. Look at them like God would look at them instead of how you would view them. Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they not what they do" when He was on the cross. And this was despite the suffering He didn't deserve to go through, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteI have more Christian friends than I do non-Christians. Non-Christians, the moment they get to know that I'm a Christian, get their guards up when they're around me and I don't like that at all either. But some people are just not ready to face the truth and all we can do about that is pray faithfully. And I fail to do that most of the times when I know I should.
What made tax collectors and prostitutes be okay with hanging out with Jesus and listening to what He had to say, so much that the "righteous" Pharisees criticized Him? I don't think it was because He became a sinner, I think it was probably because He accepted them and loved them for who they were despite their sins that they knew they were guilty of. Let the non-Christian people you come in contact with know that you love them. Don't be afraid to let them know that you love a God that loves and welcomes them. Not someone who's waiting to condemn them for all they do. Maybe you won't see immediate results, but that's okay. Over time, God will work in their heart for the best and that's between them and God. But until then, we just have to do what He tells us to do and then ask Him to bless what we're doing.
If God is on your side, what/who can be against you? Don't let *anything* overcome His love.
Yeah, that's all I'm going to say in my essay for this post. lol. sorry.
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