Christianity ≠ Being Cool?

A few weeks ago I asked my sister-in-law, who is a 13 year-old Christian, what sort of issues she and her Christ-following peers are facing these days.  What concerns are on the minds of young Christians?

One of the things she wanted advice on was how to be considered cool amongst her friends while maintaining her faith.

Truthfully, at times it feels like Christians of all ages are waiting for the answer to this one...

It may be difficult to admit, but it's not always easy to live an openly convicted life to Christ, and still be considered cool with our non-Christian peers.  It's something we all occasionally deal with. I can remember this particular desire often leaving me feeling disengaged from certain friends.  A spectator along for the ride, who made sure not to do anything questionable myself, while the Christian in my head would question if I should even be there at all.

Regardless of who we are, we all have a target audience whose attention and approval we'd like to have.

Perhaps the answer is that we need to not be bothered by it.

We have to deal with our convictions to Christ, first.  Whatever comes after that, just be who you are.  God gave us interests, talents and personalities that will draw us to the people who are supposed to be in our lives.

He doesn't make mistakes, and if we follow what He's put in our hearts, we should be just fine.

Matthew 10:32  Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

Holy Mary.

Luke 1:26-35 ...God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 

 

It never ceases to bewilder me how so many Protestants overlook, dismiss, or are even disgusted by the inclusion of Mary in our Christian faith.

Why is this?

I realize that not every Protestant detests Mary.  Still, I find the fact that so many of us don't think of her at all is just as painful.

I'm reminded back to my days of after-school Bible study, and our student leader, Randy.  He was a rather loud boy, whose intentions were usually of a good nature.  This day, however, a bunch of us walked in on his confrontation with a fellow Bible studier, who also happened to be Catholic.  Randy was discounting her beliefs, wildly declaring her a Mary worshiper.  With Randy leaving her with no room to speak, she burst into tears, instead.

Those of us watching sat there in confusion.  At the time, I had little to no idea the details of Catholicism, or that Mary was especially respected within the denomination.  Whatever Randy thought he knew must have stemmed not out of knowledge, or fellowship between between denominations, but was born out of assumptions and a lack of education.

By taking the time to apologize to our friend, Randy came to know that both his assumptions and his outburst were wrong.  Out of the confusion and hurt, however, came my first acknowledgment of who Mary really is.

Mary was chosen by God to carry our Lord and Savior in her womb.

No lottery or stroke of whimsy could ever determine such an amazing responsibility. The single fact that God chose her should be enough for us to respect and remember this woman.

Thought to be only a young teenage girl upon Gabriel's visit, she did not say no to God, but embraced His will as her own.  Risking her future marriage, her reputation, her life.  Dedicating the rest of her life to bringing up and protecting this child who would become our Saving Grace.

Accompanying Jesus in his ministry, never doubting His true identity, when even Jesus' own brothers declared him to be out of his mind (Mark 3:21). 

Jesus, in His last moments of life on Earth, adopting his beloved mother unto His trustworthy disciple, John.  (John 19:26-27).

She was a woman who followed God's plan for her willingly.  No matter what.

Talking about Christ

I was in high school the last time I blatantly tried to reach out to a hurting loved one with Scripture.  In the middle of my new-found zeal for Christ, I would leave decorated Post-It notes, or cards with relevant verses for my loved one to find.  I figured, "Hey, this is what would comfort me.  So I'll do it for you."

What I received back was nothing short of confusing anger, coupled with the demand to just knock it off already.

Bewilderment was the word, indeed.

A little more than ten years later, and it's only recently that I've come to see why my loved one may have been so very upset with me.

She thought I was preaching at her.  To her, this was me saying that she was miserable because she was possibly doing something wrong, and that the Bible may be able to fix her.  While there may have been other accusations or assumptions made about my intentions, this is the conclusion that seems most plausible to the situation.

In my previous post, I wrote about not knowing how it is I should be approaching loved ones struggling without Christ in their lives.  How am I suppose to tell them, "Good news, guys!  He's right here!  And He just wants to love you, and be loved in return!!!"

Just...  How?!

Thankfully, God is pretty good with His timing, and getting us in the right place.  Wednesday morning found me sitting down at my computer, perusing my blogroll; these thoughts still strongly pressed in my head.

Eventually, I happened upon Jennifer's post, Gracious Evangelism.  In it, Jennifer writes about her struggle with witnessing to people, and even hooked her readers up with a video, featuring Jonalyn and Dale Fincher--a hip, married couple who thrive off of Christ and spreading His Love for everyone to hear.

The Finchers shared their stories of meeting people where they are in life, loving them for the human beings they are, and the importance of stepping into their shoes.

Some of my favorites things they shared...

Allow others to remain unconvinced.

I want them to choose Jesus.We want them to bring everyhing they've got: Their minds, their emotions, their wills, their bodies.  I don't want anybody to be convinced by some flimsy argument that I have, and I don't wan them to just pray a prayer because I'm asking them to.  I want them to choose Jesus because that's what they really want.

We don't need to inform people.  We need to do better loving them.

Perhaps my favorite part involved Jonalyn sharing about her time abroad, two girlfriends she made there, and where those two friendships are today.

Regardless of how comfortable you are with sharing your faith with others, I would definitely recommend watching their video.  The message goes far beyond witnessing.  Breaking it up into pieces suited my schedule just fine, and it was interesting enough that I kept finding pockets of time to return to it throughout the day.

Family separated by Faith...

Today I acknowledged the existence of something I was never even looking for.

I saw God reflected through the unabashed love of my children.  His pure, perfect love, emulating via their hugs and smiles.  His enthusiasm for life evident in their tiny, clapping hands.

Then, alongside this beautiful truth came the ugly realization.  If God can thrive inside of us, then, if we let him, Satan can too.

Sadder yet, is that I can also see the loathsome devil working inside people I love.

An abusive childhood--decades gone--haunting, hurting, and embittering the strong woman who left it behind.

An unfaithful husband being served divorce papers in front of the co-workers who he informed that the divorce happened last year.

A young man teeming with amazing talent, potential, lack of self-esteem, and cynicism.

And there's me.  The one who can see all of this, but does not know what she will do about it.

How do I tell them that God loves them?  How do I blurt out the hopeful phrase, that ironically, seems to cause more tension than comfort?  More doubt than reassurance?  More anger than calm.

How do I help them to get the devil off their back (and mine)?

Showing your faithfully-distanced loved ones God sure can be tricky.  At the moment I can see no other way to handle it, other than to keep holding Christ's hand while attempting to walk the straight-and-narrow.  To keep the prayers coming.  To keep the potential for dialogue going.

 

People are People

I don't know about you, but when I'm delving into various concepts within The Word, nothing helps drive the point home better than a little classic, 80s New Wave.

For me, lately, the concept has been better learning how to love.  Amongst many other things, this is one thing Jesus said about love, which I think I will always be able to work on just a little bit more...

Matthew 5:43-48  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

A challenge if there ever was one.  If Christ could find it within Himself to embrace all of us, why shouldn't I do the same?  If I were to draw a line, there would be Almighty Jesus on one side, and the rest of us on the other.  Alas.  Christ didn't adhere to any such line, and decided to join all of us, instead.

That never ceases to amaze me...

And now, without further ado, the lyrical and musical genius of Depeche Mode; helping to convict me to Christ's morals since my lovely days as a melancholy youth...

People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?

So we're different colors and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you, so what could I have done?

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?

And now you're punching and you're kicking and you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far, it hasn't surfaced but I'm sure it exists
It just take a while to travel from your head to your fist

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand