subject: Undercover Christians [print this page] Undercover Christians Undercover Christians
Sometimes the only downside to seeing a good band is having to sit through the crappy openers. I recently suffered through this at an all day music festival. The band I went to see was great; the band before them had me wishing for death. They were dark, but a cheesy dark, and were simply not good at playing music. At one point the singer paused in between songs to say, "I am a miserable human being!" He then invited the crowd to follow him in chanting, "Fu*k the world!" and chant they did, three times. It was stupid.
I was amped and ready to go by the time my band took the stage, and to my delight, they melted my face off. They are classified as a Christian bandalthough I doubt they cherish this label. We never hear of atheist bands. They are Christians, in a bandbut this was not a "Christian" event. Generally, people at Billy Graham crusades don't chant "Fu*k the world." That's why I couldn't believe my ears when, before the last song, the singer said, "We're not trying to shove anything down your throats, but we stand up here in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. He has changed our lives, and we want you to know that He loves you. We love you, too." I was stunned. I was stoked. This guy was bold but sincere, and the crowd respected him for it. Why are so few Christians like that? I wondered. Why am I not like that?
Most of us Christians live double lives. At church we are bold and perfectly willing to speak the name of Jesus; at school or at work, however, we go undercover. But hold the phone. Didn't Jesus tell us to do the opposite? He said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16, NIV).
To my Christian readers, I want to know, why do we go covert, and perhaps more importantly, how can we come out of hiding? To my non-Christian readers, this article will help you better understand your sometimes quiet neighbors.
One reason we hide is because we get embarrassedit's our pride. Take, for instance, when a coworker tells us about the chick he hooked up with over the weekend, and then asks if we got any.
"Actually," we'll say, "I'm saving myself for marriage."
"Oh," he says. "I can respect that." But what he wants to say is, "Huh? Why? What? Who are you?"
Or how about when our friends go out for drinks? Not a drink, drinks. Don't we sometimes find ourselves wanting to be the designated driver, just so we don't have to explain why we're stopping after one or two?
Let's face it, by society's measure, Jesus has some ridiculous rules. But if we truly serve the God who spoke all things into existence; the God who lives; the God who stirs our hearts; the God who makes us whole, then why would we ever value the opinions of our peers over our relationship with Him? He wants to piece us back together, and therefore, his rules are in place for our good. He fashioned sex and alcohol for our enjoyment, and so He placed boundaries around them. A good parent wouldn't give into a child who was asking for ten pounds of ice cream. That child would get sickand fat.
Another reason we hide is because we are afraid of being clumped together with the Christians on TV. They are either angry and holding idiotic signs, or insisting that God wants to bless their television audienceas long as donations pour in. Most of us who follow Jesus could not be further from these people, yet we still fear being thrown into the same "religious wacko" box.
By remaining undercover, though, we are only perpetuating the problem. If our co-workers only see the Christians on TV who hold up "God hates fags" signs, then we can't blame them for wanting nothing to do with the church. I'm unsettled by how many people are surprised when they find out I'm a Christian. "But, you're so normal," one of my supervisors once told me. Yeah, most of us are. We are just quiet.
The final reason we hide is because we are a little confused about what we believe. There are about 10,000 different denominations of Christianity, ranging from fire and brimstone preachers, to hippies who view Jesus as a metaphor, and it is up to us to find where we fit in the spectrum. The most daunting part of this is having to grapple with a myriad of controversial topics. I'll give a few examples: What do people mean when they say the Bible is the word of God? Does that mean every word in it is perfect? What about the theory of evolution? Is it true, and if so, how does that change our reading of the old-testament? Are homosexuals guilty of sin, and if so, did God make them that way? What did Jesus mean when he said, "No one comes to the Father except through me?" Was he saying that all non-professing Christians are going to hell for eternity? The list could go on.
Christians, we don't need to know exactly where we stand on these issues, but we do need to be wrestling with them. And by wrestling, I don't mean listening to a sermon and thinking our work is done; I mean talking to people we disagree with, reading a book or two, and doing some hard thinking. Jesus wasn't addressing only pastors when he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27, NIV). We have each been called into a relationship, and relationships are messy. The best thing we can do is embrace the messiness; the worst thing we can do is believe we've got God figured out.
That's what this article boils down to: relationship. We will not, and should not come out of hiding until we are actually falling in love with God. At that point, it will be less a calculated act, and more living in the overflow of His love.
Imagine a co-worker who went on the date of her life the night before. Before she opens her mouth, something is differentshe's beaming. Of course she is. She met a guy who treats her like a princess. Would she be embarrassed to tell the world about this new love her of life? Hardly. So why are we? "We stand up here in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. He has changed our lives."
