The word “Christian” is a very sensitive word these days.
It evokes incredible emotion on all sides. I’m quite certain that some people will stop reading anything that uses that word, or the word God, or Jesus or maybe even the word faith. And that…breaks my heart. In the last week I’ve seen some news photos and cartoons that caused me to stop and want to shout out, “What don’t you get?”
Why is God’s message of freedom and grace and joy getting so messed up with misconceptions, hurt, and fear?
Frequently there’s a lot of misjudging and assuming going on with those who shut out the message. But, it’s not just the hearers and watchers that aren’t getting it.
There are some message deliverers that are sending mixed messages, or confused messages, or in some real cases the wrong message to the very people with whom we are supposed to be sharing the message.
Sharing what we believe with someone can really go wrong if we don’t understand what is going on in that person’s mind and heart. If we are so set on our agenda and ignore the person,
our message can be ignored,
or misunderstood,
or hated.
What is this message??
God loves you!
Why is it so complicated? What part don’t we get?
Is the message is too simple? Are the words not wise or intelligent or complex enough? Have we as a nation, a world, become so mistrusting or arrogant that this message is considered childish and foolish?
So…as believers, what don’t we get? What has happened that this amazing message has gotten so terribly botched up?
Faith
August 9, 2011 at 1:03 am (15 years ago)Hi Suzanne,
This is a timely subject. The August issue of Christianity Today has a feature article called “They Like You” – What Americans really think about evangelicals, and why we don’t believe it.
I haven’t read it yet, but one of the highlighted tag lines inside the article is “People seem to be reacting against the label evangelical more than against evangelical Christians themselves.” It seems we Christians might think the worst when we shouldn’t. I’ll have to read the entire article now and I’ll pass it along to you if you don’t already have it.
Suzanne
August 9, 2011 at 8:09 pm (15 years ago)Thanks Faith. I will definitely take a look at that article. I can certainly understand that labels (evangelical) are getting in the way of His Message!! It seems that anything we humans create (extra laws, rules, criteria, labels) are a big barrier!!! Age-long problem, isn’t it? Thanks for being a great resource, friend. Love to you, Suzanne