I saw a quote the other day (not sure of the source) that said, “I wish I had met Christ before I had met a Christian.”
I immediately thought, “That’s offensive!” I then immediately thought, “That’s sad.”
It was one of those things that you read two, maybe three times. There’s a lot of meaning in that one little sentence, and it’s true that many people really feel that way.
Obviously Christ would be the best role model and teacher for non-Christians (and Christians… for that matter), but as Christians, we are representing Him. We are responsible for spreading the Gospel and telling non-believers’ about Christ.
We can try to blame the people who call themselves Christians, but whose actions don’t reflect Christian beliefs… but we can’t do that. It’s our fault, too. Because we all sin, it’s a guarantee that we have all slipped up a time or two and haven’t shown others the grace that God has shown us.
We don’t always realize how we come across to others and we don’t always see that our actions as a whole can be harmful to the Christian movement.
What does this statement say to you? How can we change people’s perspectives of Christianity?