Recently, I had a conversation with a high school friend as to why she no longer attended church. She said she didn’t feel as though she fit in. She’s never been married, and felt like church is geared towards the married, and all that comes with it. I found it ironic to be having this conversation with her. After all she was part of a church club at my high school, and I recall attending it once and feeling like I didn’t fit in either.
Are we in an identity crisis?
When I attended that church club, I wasn’t trying to find Jesus; I was trying to fit in somewhere. However, in order to feel like I fit in, I needed to be able to identify with those I was with. If I couldn’t identify with their lives, then I figured I just didn’t fit in, and that it wasn’t for me. I wonder if I knew that my identity was in Christ Jesus, and not people, would I have stayed? Would it have mattered to me whether or not I fit in with those who were there? Would I have found commonality with them just simply by knowing the Savior?
How many have I turned away?
This got me thinking… I wondered how many have seen my life and thought… “I can’t identify with that. My life won’t ever be like that…” and instead of being their gateway, I became their roadblock. I thought as believers we were to show them Jesus by the way we live?
Jesus? What exactly does He look like?
I guess it depends on how we show Him. If He looks like listening to Christian music, attending church and church functions, being married, having children, and homeschooling children, then the demographics of those Jesus will draw to Himself will be pretty limited. We don’t know what Jesus looked like because Jesus wanted everyone to be able to identify with Him, not just those who looked like Him.
So how do we reach those who are not like us?
We reach others by becoming a vessel He uses to draw people to Himself, not by showing them how we live, but by showing them who He is. By making sure that they sense His presence, recognize His acceptance, and understand that who they want to identify with is Jesus, not people.
The Apostle Paul said: “…I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” 1 Cor. 9:22
Being a believer isn’t about making clones of us. It’s about making disciples of Jesus. It’s about showing people that they don’t have to try and fit in somewhere to find Him. Showing them that they don’t have to change on the outside before they can find Him on the inside. Our purpose is to point them in the direction of the Lord, to get them to be able to identify themselves with Him, not with us!
It’s so important that no matter where a person is in their lives that if they encounter a believer, or enter a church, youth group, or Bible study that they sense Jesus. Because the minute they get a sense of His presence, all else is irrelevant, and the common denominator isn’t what we have in common apart from Him, it’s what we have in common through Him.
Tell me your thoughts:
If Jesus said “… I will draw everyone to myself.” John 12:32, then why doesn’t everyone feel like they fit in?