Wait -- Before You Say You're a Christian

It's kind of hard to not be labeled as a Christian, because at the end of the day, I do indeed follow Jesus. But the problem with being a Christian is that being a Christian is like being an American -- there's many varieties of us, and many stereotypes for us.  

If you were to ask 10 people what a Christian is, you would get 10 different answers.

One person would describe a Christian as someone that tries to do more good than bad.

Another person would tell you that Christians are people that try to pass laws to restrict people.

Another person would say that Christians are people that think everyone else is going to hell. 

Someone else would say that Christians are people that are the most loving people they know.

And they'd all be right. And they'd all be wrong.

Just like any other major religion or culture -- there is a massive amount of variety.

This is why I don't want to simply tell people that I'm a Christian when I'm asked the question. It's like me telling someone that I'm an American and expecting them to know what I'm all about.

What happens when you tell people that you're a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or a Wiccan?  You draw a caricature in your mind of what this person is like.  As humans our brains can't help but to fill in the blanks of what we don't know with assumptions.  We will draw from our experiences of what we know about Christians (right-wing Republicans), Muslims (terrorists), Buddhists (meditation, pop religion), Wiccan (magic spells) and unfortunately we easily become fixated on the label we slap on them and it hinders our chances of building a relationship with them.

What happens when you draw assumptions? You don't need to ask questions because you've already drawn up your answers. And when you don't ask questions, you don't learn what that person is about and you will judge them based on your assumptions.

What if someone asks you if you're a Christian, and that person thinks that Christians are narrow-minded, judgmental, a-holes? Whether it's an ignorant assumption or it's an experience that they had with a Christian (or Christians)? They likely will have 20 foot walls go up if they have to have a conversation with you.

Instead, what if when someone asks you if you're a Christian, you throw the ball back in their court and say something like "well it depends what you mean by "Christian" -- if I were to tell you I'm a Christian what does that mean to you?"  By answering a question with a question you're helping to break down any assumptions that they would have by putting a "Christian" label on you.

I know it's much too easy for me to draw assumptions about other people when I get just a few facts about them, so I want to become better at asking a lot of questions about who they are so that I can really get to know them as a unique person. As Christians, I think it's our responsibility to really get to know people, because this is how we learn to love them.  

Are you a Christian? ...don't answer that yet.

Share Your Story

This is my story that I had a chance to share at Hastings Young Life last month.  Everything in our life revolves around stories. When we talk to friends -- we interact by sharing stories.  When we spend time on facebook -- we're looking at stories.  Texting -- stories.  Reading books, watching movies, reading these words right here is all because we like stories.  But more importantly -- our lives are stories.

A couple of years ago I read a book called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller which had a major impact on how I view my life in the context of story.

I'm come to see my life as a story, like a novel. I want it to be a good novel.  I want it to be something that someone would want to read someday.  The only way this would happen is by creating some good drama, not avoiding it or being afraid of something unexpected.

We have the freedom to choose the story that we're living in, and the freedom to choose what your character in your particular story is going to be.

Something profound to think about is that you have the ability to be a leading character in not only your story, but in other people's stories.  This is exciting.  You can actually be that character that helps someone turn their life around from pain and abuse to hope and purpose.