the message were presenting

So over the past weekend I went to my 7th PennDel youth convention in a row with my home church b/c they needed an extra chaperone. So this convention was a little better than the ones in the past. But still I question the way they do things with the Penndel youth, especially conventions.
But besides complaining about another convention I just wanted to write about a thought that sparked my imagination from convention. On the last night's service the speaker proceeded to tell a story about a kid who went to a secular universtiy and was taking a world religions class. And the professor kept saying how ridiculous Christianity is and how the Bible is a bunch of made up stories and all. And then the kid finally got up enough courage to stand up in class and ask the professor to stop talking about Christians and stated his beliefs. So then another kid stood up and said the same things, he was a Christian and all, and then another and another. And then some kid gets up and says he is not a Christian but would like to learn how to become one. The story is inspirational and all and everyone cheers at the end of the service. And everyone is encouraged to take a stand for their beleifs and all. And we need to reach people by taking a stand and all. While the story is inspirational and all. It just seems to me that we are always triumphing the ideas of telling other people of what we believe in standing up and stating our beliefs. But we never emphasize simply just living them out and acting upon them, following through on our beliefs. We emphasize telling other people that they are going to to hell, if they don't believe what we believe. We focus on taking a stand by just simply what we say and state. Taking a stand for Christ as we present to students is just simply telling other students that Jesus loves them and that we don't agree with what their doing and we won;t do it. We just encourage the attitude of presenting Christians as people who are better than other people, b/c they won't do certain things. But these ideas just encourage unbelievers to view Christians as judgmental and to be just moral people who think they are better than others.

But this is not at all what Jesus did, Jesus loved people through his actions and simply. Jesus gave ther sermon on the mount as an example of how the Kingdom of God is supposed to be lived out on earth. Blessing those who persecute us, praying for our neighboors, giving more to those who take from us. Being humble in spirit, being peacemakers, the beattitudes. Therse were all examples of how the kingdom of God was to be lived out. The Kingdom of God lived out is to be radically counter-cultural. Its not easy at all and we can't do it alone, we must realy on the spirit of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirt. But why don't we emphasize this the actual sayings of Jesus. Instead of encouraging kids to take a stand through simply stating their beliefs, while there is nothing wrong with it, it must be embodied it must be lived out in our lives. Most people in a world religions class aren't going to want to be a follower of Jesus simply becuase you stand up and say you believe in Jesus and all and how He has change your life. But if you demonstrated how He has changed your life, they might. Live and embody Christianity. In the words of St.Francis of Assisi said "preach often, when necessary use words." Love Jesus, Love people. Grace and Peace

Andrew Lemon