“I like your
Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your
Christ.” ~Mahatma Gandhi, preeminent leader of Indian
nationalism through non-violent civil disobedience (1869-1948)
Hosea slammed
on the brakes as the monster SUV cut across two lanes of traffic and into his
lane. He tooted his horn to alert the driver of his presence, of which he
appeared to be unaware. The SUV’s driver glanced in his rearview mirror then
instantly responded to Hosea’s horn by extending his middle finger. A moment
later the giant vehicle sped away down the 405 freeway bearing the driver and
his family with it.
Hosea couldn’t
help but notice the “Jesus loves you” license plate frame and the “See you
Sunday @ Resurrection Church” bumper sticker as the vehicle disappeared into
the traffic. Alan, who was seated in the passenger seat, had been silent during
the whole incident. “Another ‘fish person,” he said suddenly. “Fish person?”
Hosea asked, wondering what his long-time carpool buddy meant.
“Yeh, you
know, a fish person,” responded Alan. “One of those people who sticks a fish on
the back of the car and thinks it’s OK to drive like a jerk just because he’s
Christian and we aren’t.” “Wait a minute,” replied Hosea, glancing over at
Alan. “Is that what you think that symbol means?”
“I don’t know
what it means.” Alan’s voice had a slight edge to it. “All I know is that every
car that I see with that fish seems to be driven by someone with an attitude.
“f they’re so Christian, why don’t they drive better?” They drove for some
minutes without speaking
“Ichthys!”
Hosea said finally. “Huh?” said Alan. “Ichthys,” replied Hosea. “The fish is
called Ichthys. It’s an ancient symbol which means ‘Jesus Christ, Lord and
Savior.’” Alan stared at Hosea. “You’re one of them!” he said finally. “One of
who?” Hosea shot back. “You’re one of the fish people!” Alan replied stifling his laughter, though
not very well.
Hosea fell
silent again. Alan suddenly realized Hosea was serious about this. “Why didn’t
you ever tell me you were a Christian?” Alan asked finally. “Because I figured
I would get exactly the response that you just gave me… That you would laugh at me.” “I wasn’t
laughing at you,” Alan said seriously. “After all these years of riding
together, I was surprised you hadn’t said something sooner.” “Yeah well, we get a lot of flack these days
for what we believe,” Hosea said quietly, still staring out through the
windshield.
“What do
you believe?” Alan asked seriously.
How would you
respond to Alan’s question if you were Hosea? Several years ago, in a survey
conducted by LifeWay Research, 78% of the respondents said they would be
willing to listen to someone who wanted to share what they believe about
Christianity. Even more surprising was that 71% believed that Jesus made a
positive difference in a person’s life. Not so surprising was that 72% also
said that the Church was full of hypocrites.
As Christians
we are often reticent to speak openly about our faith. Unfortunately, when we
do speak we are often stridently asserting that someone else is wrong. Real evangelization begins when we allow Christ to
accompany us out of the church and into our lives. Our lifestyle then becomes our evangelization,
and we will are happier and more fulfilled. More importantly, we find that
others want what we have.
Christian
author, Shane Claiborne, once wrote: “As Christians, we should be the best
collaborators in the world. We should be quick to find unlikely allies and
subversive friends, like Jesus did.”
We can ill-afford
to allow our evangelization to take on a bumper sticker mentality. We, not our license plate frames, are the
living testimony to what Christ can do for us, After all, “they will know we
are Christians by our love.”
Dear God, let
the way I live my life be my sermon.
“When I say...
"I am a Christian"I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven." ~Dr. Maya Angelou, American author and poet (b1928)
©2013 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment