Of Celebrity and Gospel Proclamation
In yesterday's post, I featured a picture of my friend Chris with Chuck Norris. While it's fun to joke about how a meeting with Norris makes Chris the coolest person I know, this got me thinking on how we evaluate others. In particular, I was thinking about how much regard I tend to give other people in my conversations versus how much regard I give to Christ. Because here's the deal: If I were to meet a celebrity (say Christian Bale, Harrison Ford, Bono, or Jack Johnson), everyone I talk to would know about it. But often I fail to tell others about when I met Jesus Christ or my current friendship with my Lord.
Think of this: meeting a celebrity seems so newsworthy to me; meeting the God of the universe seems mundane.
Why is this the case?
1. Because my faith is often weak: I fail to recognize God for who He is: omnipresent- God is with me when I am at work or with my friends; just- God will bring all sins against Him into account and cares about how we live toward one another; merciful- God extends grace through Jesus and would have me to introduce others to Him.
2. Because others have a high regard for the celebrities of this world, but have no regard (or even disdain) for Christ. People would be impressed if I were to talk about having met a celebrity- people are even interested when I give a second-hand account of my friend Chris meeting Chuck Norris (which is, admittedly, interesting). When I speak about Christ, however, people are uncomfortable. They cannot see Him, and thinking about them brings conviction- for if one acknowledges that Christ was tortured to death for sins and rose from the grave, conquering sins, this means that one cannot continue living in sin. And so when I speak of Christ, my non-Christian friends become very uncomfortable with the fact that they go to strip clubs, smoke pot, or get drunk on the weekends- even if I don't say anything accusatory about these activities, but simply focus on Christ, I can tell there is some tension.
My prayer is for an increase in faith, in wisdom, and in boldness for myself and for all Christians reading this post, that we would be consistent in speaking to others of our God and Savior, Jesus.
Think of this: meeting a celebrity seems so newsworthy to me; meeting the God of the universe seems mundane.
Why is this the case?
1. Because my faith is often weak: I fail to recognize God for who He is: omnipresent- God is with me when I am at work or with my friends; just- God will bring all sins against Him into account and cares about how we live toward one another; merciful- God extends grace through Jesus and would have me to introduce others to Him.
2. Because others have a high regard for the celebrities of this world, but have no regard (or even disdain) for Christ. People would be impressed if I were to talk about having met a celebrity- people are even interested when I give a second-hand account of my friend Chris meeting Chuck Norris (which is, admittedly, interesting). When I speak about Christ, however, people are uncomfortable. They cannot see Him, and thinking about them brings conviction- for if one acknowledges that Christ was tortured to death for sins and rose from the grave, conquering sins, this means that one cannot continue living in sin. And so when I speak of Christ, my non-Christian friends become very uncomfortable with the fact that they go to strip clubs, smoke pot, or get drunk on the weekends- even if I don't say anything accusatory about these activities, but simply focus on Christ, I can tell there is some tension.
My prayer is for an increase in faith, in wisdom, and in boldness for myself and for all Christians reading this post, that we would be consistent in speaking to others of our God and Savior, Jesus.
Labels: evangelism, personal
posted by Andrew Lindsey | 3:45 PM
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