Push and Pull

Let me tell you about Juliana (real name used with permission).  She is a young lady that I work with.  As far as I know, she is not a believer, though she is not antagonistic towards talk about God.

She said something that struck me a few weeks ago.  While I was speaking to Jenny (see the post from a few weeks back here) about her upcoming wedding, and as I was asking her about her fiancée’s church membership (or lack thereof), Juliana basically wondered, out loud, if I was trying to convince Jenny and her hubby-to-be to join RFH.  I explained that I was not doing that, but that I firmly believed that Christians should belong to a local church that was doctrinally sound whether it was RFH or not.

Then she said, “You’re a religious drug pusher.”

Interesting…

Now, Juliana is a sassy young woman with a sarcastic streak.  I think she was only joking (though I could be wrong).  And I would hardly consider myself a religion pusher, a faith pusher, or even an evangelist for that matter.  Either way, it makes no difference.  The very fact that a joke like that would be made goes to show, I think, the perception of Christians that share their faith or even talk about church.  We are perceived as people who “push” our beliefs onto others.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that is an unfair perception.  All too often, our genuine desire for people to know the Lord is obscured by our pointing finger, our accusing tone, and our lack of compassion.  All too often, we are unwilling to hear the person – who is made in God’s image, believer or not – and far too willing to dominate the conversation, showing them very clearly that we not only disagree with their worldview, which we should, but showing them just as clearly that they themselves are to be dismissed as readily as their beliefs, as far as we are concerned.

But when Jesus came for the sake of the lost, He didn't judge.  He didn't accuse.  He didn't argue.  He didn't belittle.  He didn't condemn.  (Oh, except for when it came to those holier-than-thou religious folk…) 

Instead, He listened.  He showed compassion.  He showed that He valued every person created in His image even if they didn't believe the truth; even when they judged, accused, belittled, condemned, and argued with Him.  He was never a “pusher,” but a puller.  He drew people, pulled them, to Himself instead of pushing them into believing. 


The next time you find yourself in a conversation about Him, please, don’t do what He did not do.  He did not build a wall between Himself and the world.  Rather, He tore the veil between us and Him.  Jesus built a glorious bridge to God at the cross.  We can’t push people across; we can only point them to the other side and the wide-open arms that await them there.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strength for the Week - Selfishly Alone

Selfishly Alone I heard a preacher I like talk about why Christians should go to church.   He used this story as an illustration: ‘A pastor was having a barbeque at his house.   The entire congregation was invited.   There was one man in particular who came with his wife. She was a member of the church, but he himself, though a professing Christian, was not. So while the pastor was grilling, he called the man over and asked him why he did not come to church.   The man replied: “Pastor, I believe in Jesus Christ.   I know my soul is secure. I don’t need church.   I am just fine being a Christian on my own.”   As the conversation continued, the pastor pulled one piece of charcoal that was too hot to touch out of the fire with tongs, and placed it on the ground. When the man was growing tired of the conversation he started to excuse himself, but the pastor asked him to pick up the piece of charcoal first.   The man did and he held it out to ...
Read more

King of Sinners

The prophet Hosea was sent by God to call out the sins of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and declare the punishment that was coming for their sins: exile in Assyria. As Hosea calls out the list of sins and predicts the severe punishment using a host of colorful metaphors, he says this of Israel: "Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents." (9:6, ESV) And again: "The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars." (10:8) Literal thorns would overgrow in Israel because of their exile.  But there is more here.  The metaphor of thorns is used here by the prophet, as it is throughout the Old Testament, as a representation of the curse of God for sin: "And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat ...
Read more

An Abstract Faith

I often preach about the problem of abstract faith.  This is the idea that faith is something undefinable - it's kinda like believing in something that's kinda different from knowing something with an element of trust in there and maybe kinda more a heart thing than a head thing... Well, I don't know what that is, but it isn't the faith the Bible talks about.  That almost makes it sound as if what we have faith in may or may not be real, but who cares!  No.  The faith the Bible talks about is a faith based on what actually is - not what may or may not be.  It is a faith that is sure because the object of that faith - Jesus Christ - is as sure as it gets.   Can I get an Amen? However, there is a different kind of abstract faith that affects us as believers in Christ.  It is that faith that believes in Christ - believes in what the Bible says about Him and what it means for us - but that is abstract because we believe these things in principle...
Read more