Bullhorns

So tonight we were challenged with a few questions:

1- Does the way I live my life as a Christian make those around me attracted to Christ or not?
What we saw with the bullhorn "evangelist" is that most folks were actually being repulsed from Christ by his method of presentation. It's easy for us to say "yeah, but I'm nothing like that guy," and go on since we don't see our behavior actually making people not want to have anything to do with Christ the way bullhorn guy did.
See, the question is not "does your life push people away from Christ, and if not then you're safe." That is actually the converse (opposite) of the question. The question is "does your life draw people to Christ?" Is the way you live so peculiarly different from the rest of the world because of who God is and what He has done in your life that those around you are forced to grapple with the question of "What is so different about them?"
In the Bible in the book of 1st Peter, it says to "be ready to give an answer (or make a defense) for the hope that you have..." Now that implies that we aught to be living in a way that makes people curious. So the convicting question I, and you, need to ask is "Am I living like that?"

So the second question is actually kind wrapped up & included in the first...or maybe more of a follow-up to the 1st. It's simply "Are you loving people as Christ's life demonstrates we should?"
We saw that the way bullhorn guy was going about things was actually giving people ammunition to believe that "bullhorn evangelism" is what Christianity is all about; the condemnation, the recruitment, the fear, and the guilt...but that's not it at all!
One of the greatest ways we can live our lives that makes people take notice that we are different is by loving everyone; especially those hard to love people. That means being kind, considerate, sympathetic, & as Hannah pointed out being selfless towards others. Do I love everyone I am aware of, and how can I demonstrate that love better?

This is not just a question for you and me personally, but I believe this a question the church as a whole could benefit from asking itself. We sit inside those walls and wonder "why don't they come?" and they sit at home (or wherever) and wonder "why don't they care?" The issue is not that we don't care ( I hope), but the issue is that we could do a much better job demonstrating it.

So my prayer is this: that God would be so large and alive in our lives that we could not help but be such loving people that when others ask why we are the way we are, we have to tell them "because He first loved me."