In it not of it

"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 it's 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

I live in a area where there are churches on every corner, home schooling is huge and every one is at church on Sundays and Wednesdays and sometimes all the other days in between. Some people think it’s wonderful but sometimes it can be a rather difficult place to live. It can be like living in a bubble. Just about everyone you know goes to church and are pretty much protected from the troubles of this world. We don’t know what it’s like to go hungry or be without shelter, to live where there is ongoing war and there are definitely not strip clubs and casinos on every corner. We are pretty much a privileged community and you could say it looks a lot like "Pleasantville". Sounds pretty great right? Well, it's not always. Not if you are looking to reach the lost. They live here but sometimes they can be hard to find because for the most part, all Christians hang out together. If you asked me to name 10 people who don’t know the Lord in this area, I’m not sure I could.

From my postings last week, you know that I’m reached a point of revelation. It's time for us to leave our comfortable lives and step out into the ugliness of this world. It's time for us to be ready and willing to go and love people and share God with them but it’s hard to find people who want to jump on that boat. Last night, God put a song in my head that I haven’t heard in a while. It’s a song that I used to sing all the time to remind me of why we’re here and what we’re called to do.

The song is by Avalon and it is called In Not Of and it speaks of reaching a lost world. (click on the following link to view the lyrics) http://klove.com/lyrics/lyrics.asp?61 It talks about how we try to hide from the world and keep safe but after we spend time in the Word we realize that our calling is to reach a lost and dying world. This song really gives us something to think about in terms of “the world”. People want to hide from the world, shelter themselves from everything going on outside so that they don’t get their hands dirty. This is not how we were intended to live. It is important that we surround ourselves with other believers but we must be careful to not get lost in them. In order to relate to the lost we have to step into their world and know where they’re coming from. We have to be able to meet them where they’re at and sometimes those places are ugly. Sometimes it may simply mean knowing who won the Super bowl or who the latest contestants are on Survivor or what music is popular or what books are being read. It doesn’t mean that we have to fill our minds with all this stuff but we need to know what is out there and what the world is doing. We need to be able to find a common denominator that allows us access to relationships with people.

I truly believe that our ignorance and holier than thou attitudes can be what totally turns unbelievers off to what we have to say. We’re quick to want to point out their sins or flaws but we can’t take the time to just talk to them about what interests them. We can’t take the time to develop an actual relationship with people. In order for them to meet Christ, they have to see Him in us and then their hearts will be opened and their eyes will see.

Jesus would have never walked into a bar and scoffed at the people drinking and watching the game. I believe He would have walked over to them, found a connection and looked for a way to form a relationship in order to show them His Father’s love.

Written by Nicole