"I like your Christ.
I don't like your Christians.
They are so unlike your Christ."
Ghandi
It hit me as if I had stepped in front of the F150 to which it was attached.
Ghandi's theology and any errant ideas as to the true nature of Christ aside, I had to do some soul-searching when I read it. Was there a possibility that this could apply to me? Absolutely. It was a stark reality I was facing.
I have encountered this attitude from non-Christians time and again. It must be founded in truth to a certain degree, don't you think? How did it get to this point? How is it that enough individuals who have professed faith in Christ and claim to be His disciples have engaged in such activity so as to persuade so much of the rest of the world that they would rather not have anything to do with Christianity?
I get so frustrated when I see Christians tactlessly dealing with non-believers with this attitude that somehow the non-believer is on a lower plane -- that "I have it and you obviously don't", self righteous, unloving, (dare I say it?) judgemental position that is so off-putting that there is no hope that they will ever convince the non-believer of the validity of a loving, gracious God who humbly chose to be the servant of all by laying down His rights as King of the Universe and becoming a sacrifice for all humanity.
Then I look to myself. How often have I been motivated by self-gratification or self-righteousness or some "Christian" tradition that has nothing to do with the love of Christ? How many times have I turned a blind eye to someone in need, just because it was inconvenient at the time?
So how do we overcome this perception of Christians? How do we approach someone who possesses the philosophy that if someone claims to be a Christian they must not be much like Christ?
It must begin with each of us individually. We must each make a conscious effort to live out a life which honors Christ in all that we do -- to allow our words to be peppered with grace and our attitudes bathed in humility. We need to purpose in our hearts that we will treat each and every person with whom we come in contact as Christ would, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts, words and attitudes.
Let's start now to change the mind of the skeptic and show him Christ, shall we?
If you agree with this and want to make this your goal as a follower of Christ, leave a comment on this blog as a sign of your commitment.
3 comments:
RE: "start now to change the mind of the skeptic and show him Christ"
Interesting, as I've had conversations in a similar vein recently...just an overall sense of things not being like they used to be in this world, a sped up sense of things getting worse, feeling like we don't belong here but what can we do with the time we've got to make a difference for eternity (not for us, for others) - yet frustrated at being surrounded by compromise, but then to examine ourselves in that same light, etc.etc.
I don't know where it'll all lead, but there's a bigger sense of "something" on the horizon...
PS: now that i'm awake, I'll clarify -
"...there's a bigger sense of 'something' on the horizon"
simply meant we were talking about feeling like there's change coming. Whether that change is for/about us or someone else remains unclear. We're waiting to see what/if it is.
In the meantime, wherever we are doing whatever we do, we agree it's about "changing the mind of the skeptic & showing them Christ," as you said. :o)
I'm with you... let's be Jesus with skin on... Len Sweet says that a lot of times he tells people he's a follower of Christ... because people are interested in Christ, but turned off by Christians...
This has to be turned around.
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