A challenge for Christians

The rest of you are welcomed to join us, but you probably will find that you don't have the same problem. ;)

When I get all gung ho about Jesus in high school, I find myself split between my "Christian friends" and my "non-Christian or people-who-call-themselves-Christian-but-I-don't-consider-real-Christian friends".  I spend most of my time with my "Christian friends", but I make sure to be self-sacrificing and spend time with the other group too.  After all, Jesus loves those sinners.  Perhaps if I spend one more lunch period with them, they too shall be saved.  What kind of Christian would I be if I didn't sacrifice my time to try to save these people?  I just make sure to interject and let them know when they are saying or doing ungodly things so that they can become more aware of how wicked they are.  Plus, I don't want to stand for wickedness myself!  I must say something!  I am offended when they reject my faith.

Now in college, I start out spending time with different types of people, but I quickly wind up having almost a purely Christian social group.  I have my Christian roommate, my boyfriend's Christian co-op, my Campus Crusades Bible study...  Now I can pray for all these poor people in my dorm and classes who are off getting drunk on Thursday instead of worshiping Jesus!

In high school and college, I am offended by the swear words people say.  I am appalled by the girls' clothing.  I am shocked by pre-marital sex.  I am trying to keep myself from being contaminated by all of the horrible sin around me.  I am distressed when I must argue with yet another person about why my views about religion, abortion, homosexuality, politics, etc are Bible-based and thus correct!

I am telling Jesus that He made a mistake when He broke bread with sinners.  I am telling Him that they are too offensive.  I am telling Him that He should be trying to reason with them about truth instead of leading them there with love.  I am a Pharisee asking, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" because even when I am around sinners, my attitude is not that of respect and unconditional love.  Jesus seems comfortable with these people.  He fits in without being aloof.  He is respected and loved.  He meets needs without making demands of people.

Jesus answered me, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

Here's the challenge, Christians:  Go through your Facebook friends and figure our what percentage of them are Christians.  What about your in-person friends?  What would you guess the percentage to be?  When you do spend time with your "non-Christian" friends, are you being their friend and meeting their needs, or is your only thought to chalk up another tally mark on your personal chalkboard for Jesus.  What actions show God's love?  What can you do to share the compassion, care and understanding of Jesus?

If you are like me during high school and college, you might be legitimately uncertain of how to act around people who don't know share your faith.  It took me years during college to change my very attitudes so that I could be graceful around people I didn't agree with.  In grad school, a few of my closest friends were lovely people that do not choose to follow Jesus.  They are still my friends even after moving away from them.  With these friends, I feel like I finally did a decent job of loving them and sharing my life and faith while remaining respectful of their right to choose their beliefs.  Here are some of the things I ran through my head to make sure that I remained Christian-but-not-obnoxiously-so:

• To be friends with anybody, I have to be able to give grace when I find I disagree.  I do this for my Christian friends, so I can do this for my non-Christian friends.
• I can acknowledge a person's opinions and beliefs without agreeing with them.  I appreciate it when others do the same for me.
•  I can also share countering beliefs... when appropriate.  I don't always have to make sure that people realize that I disagree with them.
• Loving someone doesn't mean interjecting "Jesus" into as many conversations as possible.
• It is OK to accept love and support from non-Christians.  

OK non-Christian friends... I've left you out for too long.  Thank you for being patient with me as I have stumbled in learning about how to be a Christian and a good friend.  Thank you for not abandoning me if/when I was obnoxious.  Thank you for listening to my beliefs and considering them (and not thinking I'm crazy for loving and following a man who lived, died and came back from the grave over 2000 years ago...).  Please feel free to talk to me any time about questions and thoughts about faith... even if you're telling me that you don't agree with me.