An everyday mission...

11th October 2011 by MORE

If you are anything like me, there isn’t much you wouldn’t do for your friends. They’re my life. And they’ve always come from two very different worlds – some are Christians, but many are not.

So how can I remain strong in my faith around my non-Christian friends when they are constantly making decisions that I don’t agree with? And what does the Bible say about this?

Relationships

Firstly, I looked to the mission statement of who we are; The Salvation Army. It says this:

“Its mission it to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination.”

We are a visible sign of Christ to the community and this can help us to build relationships – something which is of great importance to Jesus. After all, his second commandment does say, “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31). God wants us to be in community with everybody – not just Christians.

We may be Christians trying to live holy, sinless lives, but we also have a mission to reach souls and save them, and we can’t do that if we are not out there, doing life with them. I’m not saying go out and get drunk with them every weekend so that you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Be an example of who you want them to be.

The everyday

So how do we be an example of Christ to our non-Christian friend’s everyday? I’m not suggesting we go out and start praying over our friends in tongues, because that would probably freak them out. We can be Christ through our actions – it’s not as hard as it seems.

As teenagers and young adults there is often a lot of peer pressure that arises within our circle of friends. I know because I’ve experienced it! Perhaps they are pressuring you to drink, or to hook up with that super hot guy. But we need to be strong and say NO!!! When I turned 18 and people started pressuring me to drink, I would stand firm and say no. Now my friends don’t even question me when I’m enjoying my fizzy drink at a party – plus they enjoy making use of their “personal taxi”.

It can seem daunting, but if you remain strong in your decisions, people will respect your choices because they can see the difference in your life. Know your boundaries and stick to them – people will start to learn them and will know not to push them!

No room for lukewarm

In a way too, my non-Christian friends are challenging me to stay accountable. I am representing the church; I am being an example of Christ to them. Therefore I can’t be lukewarm about my faith, otherwise they will see it as something casual and not worthy of exploring for themselves.

We are told to:

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong,” 1 Corinthians 16:13.

Who are you to judge?

I struggled with in my faith during high school because I was so focused on how people would judge me if they knew my beliefs. Would they think I was strange and ignore me? I now see that my true friends do not care. They love me for who I am. They respect by beliefs. It still makes me laugh when someone apologises for swearing around me.

If we want to be Jesus to our friends, we cannot walk around openly judging them for the life choices they are making.

“Do not pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults – unless, of course, you want the same treatment,” Matthew 7:1 (The Message).

We want people to respect our beliefs; our choices. Therefore we must respect the choices of those around us.

My mission

I feel that at this point in my life, a part of my mission is to be a friend to these people. I have never been an evangelist; I’m far too shy for that. I am much better suited to trying to be an example of Jesus by doing life with them. One of my favourite passages in the Bible is in Matthew, where we are told to be God’s light in the world. It says:

“Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven,” Matthew 5:16 (The Message).

We’ve heard it before, but I’m going to say it again. We may not be see the results straight away, but you never know the seeds you are sowing. Be Christ in the everyday, and one day you will see Christ in them.

This article was written by Nathalia Rickwood while completing work experience with the MORE youth website team.

Comments

Anthony Gott

October 11, 2011 at 4:50pm

love it!!
this is totally what i need at the moment
especially after going back to school this week.
thanks :)

Reply