The fact that Christians spend way too much time judging each other is one of my biggest soapboxes. It’s no wonder the lost don’t want what we have when they see us looking down on them in some condescending way because we somehow have gotten the impression that we’re better than they are.
So, I’ve always considered myself to be a very open-minded person. But last night, God took me to school.
I have this acquaintance at my second job. He’s a good guy. I knew he went to church, but I didn’t know about his relationship with Christ. About how real his Christianity is. I struggled to see substance.
Well, I ended up hanging out with he and his wife last night (at IHOP until the wee hours of the morning…go figure), and eventually, the conversation drifted toward church and spriritual matters. And I was absolutley blown away by how real this guy is, how completely genuine in his relationship with Christ.
So I started thinking about why it was that I struggled so much to see the substance. Because I quickly discovered last night that it was there. So why hadn’t I seen it?
It occurred to me that it’s because my mind has been poisoned, and I had, in some small way, fallen victim to the very closed-mindedness that I hate so much. I’m currently working on my master’s degree at a Christian university. As with any Christian university, there’s a lot of rules about appearance and so forth. But it occurred to me that I had allowed myself to get sucked into that narrow-minded idea of how you know a Christian. Because people in an educational setting talk about their faith all the time. I’m surrounded by people who talk about their faith. And they talk about it well. We know all the right words and phrases to use when talking about our Christianity, all the buzz words.
And I had never heard this guy say any of that. So I assumed his relationship with God wasn’t so deep.
Well, shame on me, because the more I’ve reflected on our conversation last night, and on the way I see this guy live his life, the more impressed I am with the fact that he lives his faith instead of talking about it. He’s real. Nothing fake about him. He makes mistakes. He does some things that would make “proper” Christians gasp and cover their mouths. But he never claimed to be perfect. He claimed to be who he is. And he lives God’s love.
Now, eventually the silent witness loses its effectiveness, and we must all be vocal about Jesus. Not everyone has the gift of evangelism, however. And the bottom line is that I know all kinds of people who can talk about their faith all day, and then not live it worth anything. I’m sick of that, to tell you the truth. I think a lot of people are, especially the lost.
So, that’s why I’m so impressed to see someone do it in the opposite order.
So, I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that, it doesn’t matter how you look, or what kind of clothes you wear, or the way you wear your hair, or the music you listen to, or how much Christian jargon you color your speech with. Your piety isn’t what God’s intrested in. He’s intrestested in how real you are. Who you are when you’re alone in your bedroom at night, who you are when no one but Him is looking around. The person you really are. Because if that’s solid, if your heart is right, then Christ will show in your life. To judge by appearance is legalism, and God hates that. To pay attention to someone’s heart coming out in their life…that’s true evidence of their relationship with our Savior.
I had a great time hanging out with someone that I’m sure will become a close friend last night. And when I got home, I spent several minutes apologizing to God. Because I had stereotyped. I had judged. I had done one of the things that I hate supremely.
Thank God He chose such a pleasant way in which to wake me up.