Our Relevance

I had this deeply disturbing conversation with a couple of great friends just the other day, actually it was well over a week ago and since then I have been quietly mulling over (wrestling with, fighting against, waging war with, etc) how to say this without offending anyone out there.

The summary of the conversation was, and this is a very short summary of an easily hour-long conversation, why are some Christians so sanctimonious?

And this is an issue that has always been pointed out to me by my friends of other religions. No they never used the word sanctimonious (I did), no they did not shoot down Christianity, no they not try to convert me, no, all that they were was objective and curious.

'You know why your father is sick? Because he doesn't believe in Jesus.'

'You know why you met with that accident? Because you don't believe in Jesus.'

Wait, what? Because that is what the Christians in their lives tell them. And there are other comments, equally crazy and disturbing, but I won't go into it.

I wanted to write this whole post about us Christians hiding behind our relevance, about shoving our faith in other people's faces. But, come to think about it, am I any better? They and I are two ends of the same spectrum. They say what they will, shame be damned, but here I sit, only telling you about my faith when I hide behind a shiny screen...

I think both stems from the same root, but manifested differently. I, in my arrogance that I am saved and will show the world Jesus only by 'living' the faith, believing that it will be enough. No, we are not so different.

I talked to Crys about it (totally irrelevant, but how cool is having someone who you can converse deeply with?) and she showed me a video by Casting Crowns.

What This World Needs by Casting Crowns

People aren't confused by the gospel, they're confused by us.

Jesus is the only way to God, but we are NOT the only way to Jesus.

This world doesn't need my tie, my hoodie, my denomination, or my translation of the Bible.

They just need Jesus.

We can be passionate about what we believe, but we can't strap ourself to the gospel,

'cos we're slowing it down.

Jesus is going to save the world, but maybe, the best thing we can do,

is just to get out of the way.

No, I don't have a new thought to add to this mire, and I probably never will. The conclusion has always been the same. It's just that we get so caught up in our relevance that we thought we could affect the conclusion. It's always been the same and it'll always be the same.