Now here is where the story really got to me. The lady actually grew up in the church. Her whole family went to church. This lady was overweight as a youth, she was considered a nerd by her peers, and nobody wanted to be her friend. Her youth group went on a trip and she decided to go. On the bus nobody talked to her, not the students, not the youth workers. When they had driven half way they slept over night at a local church. While they stayed up late talking, playing games, and having fun; no one included her. The youth group ignored her, they didn't include her, she felt invisible. She slept that night alone on the other side of the room. When she woke up the next morning, she was the only one in the room. She walked outside to see where everyone was, there was nobody and the church bus was gone. They had left her. This took place back in the seventy's. There were no pagers, no cell phones, no way of contacting someone right away. It took her parents eight hours to drive and come pick her up. She sat in that room for eight hours thinking of how the "Christians" ignored her, how the "Christians" didn't talk to her, how the "Christians" didn't make friends with her. She thought about how the "Christ like" made her sleep alone the night before, and how the "Christ like" left her at that church all alone with no food and no water. That day she said, is the day she made up her mind that Christianity is not for her. She began to look else where for friends, for acceptance, and for love. She chose wicca. What made that hatred for christianity grow even more, her mother, a pastor in the Epospicalian church, has tried to shove christianity down her throat. Her sister who have abandoned her because of who she is and what she believes.
One event changed a girls opinion of Christianity. She chose, because the way so called "Christians" treated her, that she wanted nothing to do with Christianity. At the moment I heard this story I prayed "Lord please help me never to act in a way that would make a person say no to Christianity." It absolutely broke my heart! Christianity should be the single most accepting people in the world! Christ accepted everyone! As Christians we are CALLED to LOVE! They acted totally opposite of the way Jesus lived on earth. "Christian" literally means Christ-like. Love is one of the most important things a Christian does. Love God most of all then love others! "Romans 12:9 Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." Read the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13. Don't read through it quickly, let it soak in. Christians need to accept and love everyone! No matter what they look like, dress like, smell like, act like, or how they treat you! I have found myself treating others differently because they are not "normal". I will be praying I show love to EVERYONE. I couldn't live with knowing I treated someone in a way that made them choose against God. "1 John 2:10 Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause another to stumble." We are not to shove our believes down non believers throats. We are to show them through our actions! Actions speak louder than words. Once they see that you actually care for them and love them for who they are and not just because you want them to take on your beliefs, opportunities will open for you to share Christ.
While reading "Primal" by Mark Batterson he talks, in the first chapter, about loving the Lord God with all your heart. Mark says to truly love God with all your heart is to have a heart that breaks for the things that break the heart of God. Now read that again "having a heart.... that breaks for the things... that break the heart of God." I've been praying that God gives me a heart that breaks for the same thing his breaks for. Having compassion for people.
I want to challenge you to evaluate yourself. Have you not been showing love to Christians and non Christians alike? How can you show Christ's love better? Are you acting and treating people in a way that would cause them to say "Christianity is not for me"? I will be praying I show love in a way Christ would, I hope and pray you will be praying that prayer with me.
