Remember how I said I had a million thoughts racing through my mind? I wasn't kidding. I promise not to write the novel I wrote yesterday, but it was a necessary back story to understand my brain today.
Do you ever stop and think if you look different than the rest of the world? I don't know about you, but I live in a midwestern family-oriented town, primarily conservative politically, and actually called "The City of Churches" as there are seemingly almost as many churches as there are street corners. Being "good" here is expected. So, how different should I be?
I have been thinking about this for a while now, but with no good conclusion. In some places of the world, it is a danger to attend "church" or read your Bible. Here, we have a smorgasbord of church variety. A buffet, perhaps. Like Golden Corral. (Just typing that made me gag, but that's because of my extreme aversion to large quantities or vats of food).
But do I stand out? Does anyone see Christ in me or do they just see my good behavior as par for the course? What does it look like to reflect Him?
People freely use the phrase "to be in the world, but not of it". What does that even mean? Where is the line drawn between the two?
If we really understood His love for us... wouldn't we realize that understanding His love for us is a call to action? To love one another? To reflect His glory ... not receive it. We don't get to just keep it to ourselves. Do the barista girls at my favorite Starbucks think I'm different? How about the other moms at the play place? The employees at Chick-fil-A? The librarian at the downtown library? Those are places I go regularly. Surely they can see a difference, right?
I don't really have answers. Just questions.
Friday, December 10, 2010
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1 comments:
The important thing is that you're daring to even ask the questions. And to help you with one of them, I think people DO see Christ in you. The problem is, it's hard to engage with people you see just in passing. I always think to myself, "How can I show grace today?". There's a way to show grace to the Starbucks barista or the librarian even though you don't have a profound relationship with them. I don't have answers to all of those questions, either. But it's good to process them!
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