I am in the middle of a season of lots of travel for work. When traveling alone, I tend to hit up the fast food locations way too often.
Last night I got a bit sick of that and decided to try getting a sandwich at the hotel’s lounge. I sat at the bar and ordered a soda and a reuben sandwich.
The room was empty except for the bartender, me, and a set of keys left by a guy who had to run up to his room.
The bartender asked what brought me to town and I told him I was doing some work for a local Christian radio station. He hadn’t heard of the station, but he did tell me about a gal who used to work at a restaurant he owned. He said she was a Baptist who had no problem letting people know about her beliefs.
One particular evening, Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” came on the house music system.
What if God was one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home.
He indicated to her that that was such a neat song. Her immediate reaction was to berate the song as being way off base and somewhat offensive.
That was his relationship with a Christian. One who was quick to defend her beliefs, but not share them. All he knew was what she stood AGAINST. She could have easily taken that opportunity to share that God DID in fact become one of us.
Is that your reputation as a Christian? Are you prepared to be defensive and show the world what you don’t stand for? Or are you prepared to be offensive and show the world who it is that stands for you?
I think she missed a perfect opportunity.
Come to think of it, so did I.
Thanks for sharing that Carl. It’s interesting to think about being a Christian that’s on the offense, rather than always being on the defense. By simple definition of today’s standards, much of what Christians have to share is actually pretty offensive to even just the average scope of morality in today’s culture. But like they say, “The Truth hurts.”
And Christians wonder why they are perceived negatively in our culture. It’s so true, it seems like so much time is spent focusing on what we are supposed to be against (gays and abortion!!) that we forget about basic rules of interacting with human beings. I.E. be nice to people. And if you want to evangelize, don’t get offended at things that people say. Instant conversation stopper.
Well said Carl. I remember someone preforming that song during a chapel service I attended.
John Fischer used this song at chapel services and speeches across the country, so it was probably him. It reminds me a little of Mother Teresa’s insistence that all of the people she was helping were Jesus — taking literally what the Bible says about helping the hungry and homeless. When we have that attitude, we’ll hopefully learn to be less curt to those who happen to disagree with us.