Forgetting Jesus

Posted by Mo on Dec 2, 2011 in Thoughts | 4 comments

I used to be part of a college ministry, and one day this kid from India walked into our little building right off the street.  He was an exchange student, and he said he liked the music as he was passing by.  He made friends with some of the students, and starting coming around, maybe for a year or so.

I think we kind of blew it, though.  I’m pretty sure he tuned out the sermons, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if our friendships had been more genuine.  But as far as those went, I think most people tiptoed around him about Jesus and the Bible.  After awhile he figured stuff out for himself, and he didn’t like what he learned.  He picked up polluted versions of the gospel from online forums, and took his anger and confusion out on us.

It was a mess, and he eventually left.  Probably on bad terms.  He started leaving the worst Facebook wall posts, so several of us ended up blocking him.

I wonder sometimes if it would have been different if we’d been more upfront with the Gospel.  Maybe he wouldn’t have stuck around, but I bet he wouldn’t have felt betrayed either.

Instead of being a stain on his past, the experience might have been a seed for something later.

Don’t leave Jesus out.  You may not win someone to Christ if you leave him in, but you’ll definitely not win someone by leaving him out.

Followup: Identity vs Label

Posted by Mo on Nov 30, 2011 in Blog, POTSC, Thoughts | 1 comment

I had a post up on People of the Second Chance today, and I wanted to write a quick followup on my own platform.  The post was about Labels vs Identity, and how embracing a Label doesn’t make it any less confining.  Here’s an except:

So to all you (us) coffee snobs, hipsters, Jesus-freaks, and Skyrim geeks: I think it might be time to cut it out.  The labels, no matter how empowering they may seem, will always be the walls of a box.  Labels make you less of a person, not more. 

Here’s the whole post: FIND YOUR IDENTITY, NOT YOUR LABEL

So anyway, I wanted to follow up regarding my faith.  As a Christian, I’m automatically susceptible to labeling, “Christian” being the most obvious.  But my faith goes beyond the adjective/noun of Christian.  My identity is in Christ — and any real believer can share how that’s a freeing thing, not a confining thing.

It’s possible to wear Christian as a label, though, and miss the whole identity part.  Politics, rhetoric, traditions, liturgy, fashion, music … those are all label-driven.  Salvation and relationship with Christ is identity-driven.  And there’s the difference.

Jesus-freak means nothing in and of itself.  It’s in my Twitter profile because it’s cute.  But … I’m a follower of Christ.  I don’t label myself as a Christian — I identify as one.

What are your thoughts on identity vs label?  Read the whole post and join the discussion, and post your thoughts here as well!