As Christians, that is what we call people that don't know Jesus as Savior, Lord and friend, right? We call them "lost". Sometimes I think we have a lousy attitude toward the "lost". I know I can anyways. We see or perceive them in a bunch of funny ways. One of the funniest is that we see them as "them" and we are "us". That pretty naturally places a huge dividing line between "us" and "them". We also attribute all kinds of reasons to why they are still "lost". Be it their pride or arrogance, or their stubborness or stupidness or evilness, or laziness, or their indifference. Whatever it is we blame them with it causes us to say things like if they only...fill in the blank..., then they would finally see how right we Christians have been and how lousy their lives have really been without Jesus. Then we begin to imagine the sweet scene when they finally are humbled and broken before God and their lives radically change and they begin to act more like you and me. Oh, we might not say it so bluntly, but in a very candy coated sweet way it gets said never the less. I've seen it in myself and in others. Our intentions are good but to a world that needs to know God's love, we instead come across as arrogant and dare I say as jerks. The world does not need to see that we are right. They need to see that we care about them enough to become engaged in their lives.
Check out Luke 15 in the Bible and see what God has to say about lost things. As you read try and hear the heart of a God that longs for the lost to be found, and for the disoriented to find their way.
I'll leave you with this thought from author Jim Henderson. He reminded us that "The Lost" don't have a book that tells them to go find a church but the Church has a book that tells us to go find them. Hmmmm...Interesting.
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3 comments:
Hi, I stumbled across your blog. Its great!Love your last post.I think a lot of us are a product of our conditoning.Which can lead some to and unfortunate start in life needing to break through a lot of very negative beleifs first. Depending on our conditioning we hop on either negative or positive vehicles to meet our needs. The more we steer clear from or judge those for not beleiving what we beleive the further the gap between people become. When we feel accepted and cared for it can help our own self worth and encourage us to search for better things for us. I agree with you about the best way to help anyone (or help unify people) is to just let people know you care.
It's very interesting how Christianity and Islam shares the same views. In Islam, those who are not Muslims are called "murtad" and that means, lost, too. Those who are "lost" are condemn to hell indefinately.
Just my view...but I find most organize religions like Christianity, Islam, Judaism etc practise this belief. Sad, indeed. Maybe that's why there are so many fights.. the Christians against the Muslims against the Jews. Maybe because one perceive the other as "lost" and "beneath" them.
And hi to you Michelle!!! :D
I don't think that the real problem lies in the fact that there is indeed distinction. The fact is that some are at the Marriage Feast and that others are outside. There is a very strong current in the evangelical world today to look as much like the world as possible. This has started, I think, from a very real desire to connect with these people or to "be relevant" but has basically morphed into people who are essentially the world but privately love Jesus. It ends up looking a lot like the very trends they are acting against.
I agree totally that all must be done in humility to reach those who are still in the darkness and to encourage in them that longing for fulfillment in the Holy Spirit. However, the most difficult lesson to remember is that the Gospel (especially the Gospel lived out truly) is offensive. The more we love the world, the more that they will hate and revile us. And this is the witness of Christians from ancient Rome to the Ottoman Empire to the Soviets to modern China.
I don't say this to defend televangelists or street criers. Those people are misguided in the opposite direction of people (in my experience because the movement is so broad) of those associated with the Emerging Church or the "New Monasticism" movement. I think the essential point that is missed by both is that we are to communicate the Truth in Love. The former bashes with the Truth and the latter attempts to use only Love. In the end, both miss.
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Henderson. However, the corollary to that statement is the invitation that even Christ sent out to "Come and see." This has been the problem that some of these attitudes have encountered. With a generation of people who are more concerned with the search, they have little to offer to a hurt and confused(or "disoriented" to use your word).
I just reread this and perhaps it is speaking to a little bit of a broader conversation or whatever than you intended but I'm interested in your take on it. This also isn't an attack on your Church (do you guys still use a big "c"?) in Sugar Grove.
In ICXC,
Ben L
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