We Christians can be funny; but all too often, quite unintentionally.
Case in point: Consider the phenomenon of Jesufying.
For those unfamiliar to church circles, where it proliferates, the process of Jesufying is rather simple: You just take whatever thing, practice, or area in your life that you want to burnish, shine, (or more accurately, sanitize and spiritualize), add the word Christian to it, and voilà: it is now Jesufied!
Christians have a way of Jesufying everything that we’re involved in, so that it all sounds a bit more spiritual, appears more God-honoring, and generally makes us feel a whole lot holier, as we walk through the “sinful” world around us.
As a result, we who call The Church home, now regularly indulge in:
Christian music
Christian movies
Christian newspapers
Christian coffee shops
Christian workouts
Christian travel agents
Christian dry cleaners
Christian tree removal
Christian wart removal
Little by little, we immerse ourselves in the church ghetto, and slowly begin to eliminate every bit of media that isn’t overtly religious, certain that this ensures our moral integrity and protects our purity. We do the same with people too; carving out friendships and social lives only from those who claim our faith, lest we be led hopelessly down the Highway to Hell by heathens, unbelievers, and worse: Liberal Democrats.
In fact, many followers of Jesus have so effectively partitioned-off their lives, that we can do almost anything on a given day, without bumping up against, or being contaminated by, the scary “non-Christian” world in any significant way.
This is largely OK with most of us, though, because it helps us avoid so many of the awkward moments, difficult conversations, and faith-challenging situations, which we regularly run from, as if they were taffy-handed toddlers looking to hug our nice white pants. Being with people who are not schooled in the religious art of being nice, let alone those whose lives are not properly Jesufied, is pretty messy business, and we dislike mess invading our Sundays.
And it’s all taking a toll on the passion that true discipleship requires.
When we make the outside world into the enemy to be avoided, then sharing our faith, explaining our beliefs, and navigating religious disagreement; (those things which actually bring real spiritual growth), are all bypassed, and we grow ever more comfortable with a rut of lukewarm mediocrity, and a few songs about Jesus for an hour on the weekend.
Sadly, the Christian Church these days, is less and less a wild, daring “city on a hill”, and more and more, a gated community of scared Sunday School kids, looking to hide in a prayer panic room until Jesus comes back.
Instead of entering directly and purposefully into the hurting world around us, instead of engaging with the broken culture and its twisted priorities; instead of helping to be the light that we forever say and sing that we are, we prefer to curse the darkness from afar, satisfied that at least we’re going to Heaven.
We call this sequestered life, “Christian community”, but in truth, it’s more often like a religious cocoon; a warm, cozy, holy huddle, where we can snuggle in religious bliss, fooling ourselves that we’re “living for Jesus”, while all the while, hiding from His people and the difficult, dirty work of loving people.
Christian, if lots of your friends are Christians, be concerned.
If all of your friends are Christians, repent.
The truth is, there are millions of people who will never step foot into a church, no matter how cool, or fun, or slick, or big it is.
They will never enter your church, even if you’re nice and sweet, and even if the music’s good and the pastor’s funny, and even if your fair-trade coffee is from Africa and your TV’s are all high-def.
No, you see, so many people, are out there (beyond your Jesufied world), waiting for you to enter their space, and show them this Jesus who supposedly is worth giving-up everything for, in real-time.
And you’ll never do that if you see them as sick or dirty, and you’ll never do that if you live in a sealed religious bubble, and you’ll never do that if you feel that all the stuff they love is corrupt and evil.
So this week, as you go through the movements that make up your ordinary, look for ways in which you can actually live life, around and with people who believe differently than you do.
Do business with those who don’t share your faith. Let them see the difference it makes in your life, as you buy and sell and negotiate and deal.
Forge friendships with coworkers and neighbors, who don’t know Corinthians from Kardashians, and live like you know that this doesn’t make you any better than them.
Listen to some good ‘ol “devil music”, so that you can have an informed coherent discussion with people, who don’t have the new Chris Tomlin CD.
Living a life on mission, isn’t about avoiding bad things through cultural abstinence, as much as it is about redeeming people through transcending love.
Christian, you want to do something really beautiful for the world? Stop segregating yourself from it.
Stop Jesufying your life, and start living your life, like Jesus; unapologetically with those who need to experience him the most.
