Jesus Loves You, But People Think You Are A Jerk

Ok so the title might be a little in your face. Truth is 1 out 4 people have a negative view of Christianity in Canada and of the 75% who say they don't, that does not mean they embrace your Christianity. Even though in our country an overwhelming majority of people "call themselves" Christians they still look at the Church with some degree of skepticism and indeed some think we are jerks. Some have that opinion of us because we have earned it and others have it out of pure ignorance. Either way we can do something about it.

Your neighbour, co-worker, family member, or friend may hear you talk about your church, see you gather with the church every Sunday (this alone freaks them out), know you give to your church (why would anyone give away their money and time to a church) and likely you have changed your outlook on life as you have grown in your faith (your new outlook may cause them discomfort). These things are all good for you, but to a person who is looking from the outside in, you unintentionally separated yourself from them. They may lump you in with the "Christians" that are against everything - movies, music, anything modern, always speaking out against something -- yes these people exist and do it in the name of Jesus. The best way to battle the "specter of separation" is to serve and love people with no strings attached. The best way to get people engaged with your faith is to live it. The best way to change how they see you is to live like Jesus and that will peak their interest in the faith that has changed your life.

• Serve the waitress on Sunday at the restaurant by leaving a great tip (more that 15%) and a card from CATF. You see if you talk to most waitresses they will tell you the church crowd on Sunday is cheap, demanding and overbearing and then they leave little pamphlets about their church on the table with a cheap tip.
  

• I'm learning about loving the board members at my condominium. They are driving me up the wall, but I can't let this turn me into the jerk Christian in their eyes.
  

• Maybe it's going the extra mile and helping out a co-worker even though it's not your job.
  

• How about cleaning up the community, giving to the poor or helping a friend.
  

• Care for people in traffic by not freaking out at them. (talking to myself here)

You see when we serve people, they notice. When we serve, it also changes us and that has huge impact on how we interact with those around us. Giving makes us less "churchy" and more like Jesus. That is a good thing! We move from being blood suckers to being life givers LOL.

We still hold to the truth of the Bible and we never compromise on that, but we present that truth wrapped in servanthood. Jesus loves you and the world may not like your faith and truth my offend them but let's make it hard for them to call you a jerk. Let's not offend people by how we act or our lack of action.

Change the world or go home...have I said that before. I have given you the truth about what we face and the good news is, we can influence how people perceive our faith and we can improve the favourable views that people have of our faith by serving and caring. The world needs to see Jesus. You are up to the task!