I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want people to like them and accept them. Oh some may say that that’s not important, but their actions generally tell a different story. If my goal is for people to like me then I generally will present the best possible version of myself to them so that they will find something to like about me. I will try and say all the right things and have all the right views so that I will be accepted. Of course, the underlying belief here is that if people knew the real me, they wouldn’t give me the time of day. They would shun me and I would be alone. All too often, this mindset shows up in our particular version of Christianity. We try and hide our sin, our fears and struggles or at the very least downplay them, so that we will look good in front of other people. In so doing, we are denying the work and reality of the gospel in our life and deceiving people into thinking that Christianity is about being good, when really it’s about the gospel making us new! I was reminded of this temptation as I read the following quote from John Stott in his book, Authentic Christianity. He writes:
Close contact with people involves an uncomfortable exposure of ourselves to them. It is much easier, in both fellowship and witness, to keep our distance. We are more likely to win the admiration of other people if we do. It is only at close quarters that idols are seen to have feet of clay. Are we willing to let people come close enough to us to find our what we are really like and to know us as we really are? True witness, born of friendship, requires a great degree of holiness in us as well as love. The nearer we get to people the harder it is to speak for Christ. Is not this the reason why the hardest people of all to whom to witness are members of our own family? They know us too well.
Oh that I might repent and believe in the reality of the gospel for my life. Oh that I might be honest about my sin before God and before others so that they can see how great a savior God is. Deliver me from goodness and make me new!
brett eubank | unfinished 