Here’s a new addition to the CruPressGreen Campus Blog: we recently asked several Christian leaders/pastors/authors the question, “What do you want to say to Cru?” Here is the first of those responses from Shane Claiborne, founder of "The Simple Way" and author The Irresistible Revolution , Jesus for President , and compiler of Common Prayer . Check out his website: www.thesimpleway.org
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A recent study of people’s perceptions of Christians revealed that we have a bit of an image crisis on our hands. The top three things non-Christians think of when they hear “Christian” are: 1) Anti-gay 2) Judgmental and 3) Hypocritical. The rest of the list doesn’t get much better. The sad thing is that I’m pretty sure those aren’t the first things folks thought of when they encountered Jesus. Isn’t it time for a Christianity that looks like Jesus again?
Fortunately Jesus has survived the embarrassing things we Christians have done in his name. Non-Christians still have pretty positive things to say about Jesus—they just aren’t crazy about Christians because we don’t always reflect the love and grace of Christ. Can you imagine what the world would look like if we took Jesus seriously? What if we read the Sermon on the Mount and bet our lives on the fact that he meant the stuff he said?
What if we became known for grace rather than judgement? What if we became known for enemy love rather than “holy” wars? What if we were known for the Gospel dream of selling what we have and giving it to the poor rather than selling out to the American Dream? It’s time for a new Cru… a Cru to turn the world upside down with God’s love. For too long we have been known by what we are against rather than by what we are for. We have been known by what we hate rather than by who we love. The whole world is hungry for Jesus, and one of the biggest obstacles to Christ has been Christians who have so much to say with our mouths but so little to show with our lives. May we preach the Gospel fresh today—with our mouths… and let us preach it even louder with our lives. For they will not know that we are Christians by our bumper stickers and t-shirts but by our love.
It’s time for a new movement of the Holy Spirit, that we might be filled with the fruits of that Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Those are the beautiful things of God… that’s what I hope the next generation thinks of when it hears the word “Christian.”
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