What Do They See?

I've recently had the opportunity to attend a church that I've heard a lot of people in my area talk about. I knew it was one that was well liked, and so I was eager to try it out. I attempted to go a few times before, but something would always come up that prevented me from being able to go there, so when I was finally able to go and make it, I was excited to be able to really have the chance to check it out and see what I thought. Then, when I walked through the door, the thing that I noticed the most was how I felt like a stranger among my brethren. There wasn't a single person who came to greet me. From the time that I first got there to the time that I left, only two, maybe three people nodded their heads at me from a distance, and only after I made eye contact and smiled first. No one shook my hand, and there weren't any of the other greetings you might expect to find in a church. No, "it's great to have you here, be sure to come back" or anything like that. Only once, as I was heading back to the parking lot did I pass someone who was coming back from where the youth group had let out who actually did greet me warmly. She was the only one like that out of everyone there that I encountered.

In this, the thought that crossed my mind was, What if I had been a lost soul that had come there in search for what I was missing? What if this was the one time that I would've actually attended a church service to see if I could find what I was seeking?

We never know what opportunities might be presented to us, and they could just as easily be missed. How often does someone enter a church lost, but open, and then they fall right back through the cracks because we failed in our responsibility to show them Christ through us. When we're sitting in a church service and we see someone new come in, we shouldn't overlook them. We should be sure to make them feel welcome there, and not as if they're an outsider looking in. You want them to go away from that service feeling, at the very least, intrigued, and not instead be more confused. Maybe as they're searching, the only thing they can think of is how they've been told about Jesus, but don't really know enough to understand. So when they attend a service, they just know there will be someone who will help them learn what they need, only to receive a cold and indifferent reception, and then finding themselves feeling empty, and no longer wanting what in their mind is represented by this encounter.

This doesn't just end within the church building, because remember, we are the church, not a building. The entire body of Christ, the entire group of believers existing in this world is the true church. We should keep this in mind when we're interacting with people, not just in our reception of them, but in our attitudes and how we go about our daily lives. Remember this in how you choose to treat a waitress who comes to your table at a restaurant. Perhaps she's noticed that you bow your head before you eat. What else about you has she noticed? Perhaps we should keep this in mind when we're on the road, and feel like reacting in anger, but other drivers see the messages we have on our bumper stickers.

Consider the message that comes across to your coworkers when they hear you cussing and treating someone rudely. I know that none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes, and I know I've made my fair share of them. This is why we need Jesus to begin with. But this is also why we need to make more of an effort to be a better representative of Christ in this world. There's a Christian band called DC Talk, and on one of their cds, before one of their songs, they have two sentences which I found to be very profound. The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today are Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then go out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. And that is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

How many people will we encounter in our lives who know that we're Christians, and acknowledge how we live, and what kind of people we are? Whatever we do, there may be someone observing as we go along, making mental notes. They may even be pointing it out to others, saying, Hey, look at this person. You see this person, and what they're doing? And they say they're Christian? I know that I've heard this, I don't know how many times. I've heard those exact words on different occasions, when people would encounter someone who they knew to be a Christian, or at least claimed Christianity who was reacting or behaving in a very ungodly manner. We don't want to give the world any more reasons to associate Christians with bad behavior or hypocrisy. We want for them to see what being a Christian is supposed to be. For many people out there, their only knowledge of what it means to be saved is what they see in the Christians that they meet. So, shouldn't the example that we show them be an accurate representation, rather than the conclusions that they may come to otherwise?




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