Hey Christian, Your Neighbors Aren't Projects to Convert

I believe it is interesting in today's societies to see Christians run around trying to do anything and everything to get the entire world to convert to their way of thinking. Specifically, I see it happening with the Western Christian. Whether it is debates, books, picketing, handing out tracts, inviting people to church or yelling at them through a megaphone on a crowded street corner. But, is this why Christians exist? To get other people to convert to their ways of thinking? Not only that, but which ways are the right ways? How much of their ways are good enough before you are on "their side"? What do you have to do to prove to them you think like they do? Do you have to dress like them? Listen to their music? Go to their churches? Vote like they do? The questions continue to press the more you press an individual Christian. But, what if they were missing the point?


My main concern is simply this: I don't believe that most people have denied Jesus in the West, I believe most people have denied religion. The religion of Western Christianity. The reason? People are being shown religion, not Jesus.


Why is this a concern? The concern is for all the reasons above. When can someone be considered on my team and wear my uniform? Is there a checklist I can give them so I can be sure they are on my side now? Maybe the bigger question is this...is that even the point of someone who says that they follow Jesus? Am I supposed to win people like I'm at a carnival hoping one of my balls of religion knocks them over so I can hear the carny yell, "winner!"


Paul tells me this:



I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:6-9



I can't win anyone. I can't convert anyone to my thinking. I can't make anyone desire to love God more. Not only that, that's not why I am on this earth. My job is to merely show people who God is through my actions and through my words. Whether or not they desire to follow Jesus isn't up to me and I am not the one who judges when they have crossed that imaginary line from the team of my rivals to the home team.



God has pursued mankind from the very beginning. He is a loving God who has shown through story after story that he pursues the sinner and forgives them and restores them. He not only shows that in the Bible, but he has shown that to me in my own life. I have always been a sinner and I continue to be, yet God still pursues me, still loves me, still forgives me. This is quite interesting because I am a preacher and I am supposed to have it all together. But the fact is, the more I know about God, the more screwed up I realize I am and the more I understand what I don't know about God.

So, if I try to convert anyone to my ways of thinking, they will be messed up. But, what if I trusted the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of people. What if my job was to merely show others what God is like and speak to them about those ways? What if this included being honest about my screw ups and the times I fail? What if those times were to point back to our perfect Creator and Sustainer who forgives us and loves us through the cross of Christ and his resurrection, even while we are screwed up?



Doesn't that make my life easier? Knowing I don't have to convert anyone to a way of life? Doesn't that make it easier for my neighbors? Knowing I am not trying to convert them to my way of life?



Instead, knowing I just need to love others like God has loved me, and when I fail at that, be honest about it. Doesn't this free me up from argumentation to demonstration? From debate to discussion? Now, I know that as we show people Jesus and the work of God within us, people will desire answers that might cause "lines in the sand." But, if these discussions are because we just want to tell others, instead of convert others, the discussions become a loving exchange instead of a heated debate. Because remember...we can't change anyone's thoughts on this. We are merely the messengers. I am not pretending that I don't believe things about Jesus that are different than my neighbors. I get that.



But, what if we as followers of Jesus desired to just show off the God who pursues, loves and forgives instead of ramming religion down people's throats?



Seems like it would follow what Jesus said was the greatest command and the second like it:



“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40



Imagine if we just loved others like we wanted to be loved. I have been trying to do this in my neighborhood. It's not to convert anyone. It's merely to show others what God is like because he has done so much for me (understanding first commandment). I pursue my neighbors (second commandment) through parties, BBQs, neighborhood breakfasts, meals for the sick, dialoging around the Story of God, etc. Community is a picture of what God is like.  Caring, pursuing, loving, celebratory, etc. If you ask my neighbors they'll tell you I'm not perfect, far from it, and that's the point. I'm not a saviour, but I do point to one.



A couple of years ago, I started to think: "If Jesus was in this neighborhood, what would it look like?" So, I just asked the Spirit...what's next? The Spirit continued to press into me to love and pursue my neighborhood, not with religion, but love.



My job isn't to convert my neighbors. They'll tell you that I don't even try to do that. They might wonder why we do all the things we do in our neighborhood, and it is really simple:



God has done so much for me, that I desire to show others what he is like.



It's that simple. My neighbors aren't my project to convert to my way of life. My neighbors are made in the image of God and have become both friends and family to me and they show me so much who God is and what God has done. There is no team to be on. No uniform. No winners. No losers. Now, do I hope that my neighbors will follow Jesus? Of course I do. But, I know that I am not the determiner of how this happens, when it happens or if it happens. I am merely a sign post to Jesus, whether my neighbors follow the sign post to Jesus is not in my power.  And true love loves even when someone isn't like them.  So, if my neighbor decides to never follow Jesus, that shouldn't affect my love for them. 



Maybe we as followers of Jesus should really focus on how we should love others as we love ourselves, instead of trying to argue, judge and functionally hate others who aren't like us.



Maybe. I bet Jesus was right.