Why A Lot Of People Don’t Really Like Christians.

There are so many super obvious, big, reasons why people don’t like christians. They’re usually things that are all over the news and make me not really want to be associated with christians either. But what about the other little things?

When I was in boarding school I had a friend who spoke her mind incessantly. I have her to thank for what backbone I do have now. She was also the first person in my life who really challenged my faith. She wasn’t a christian; in fact pretty much hated christians, and yet, we were friends.

I remember one morning, I was out in the yard (aka a bunch of cactuses and dead grass-it was Arizona) sitting in my crazy creek, reading my bible. It was a Saturday morning, already swelteringly hot. This friend came over and sat down next to me. She threw a few jabs over what I was reading and then paused and looked at me and said,

“Do you really believe that stuff? Or do you just believe it because your family does?”

I looked up at her, ready to say that of course I did, but instead I said,

“I don’t know.”

I think I probably blushed. I couldn’t believe I had said that. What was I thinking? The answer is always that I believe. Always. always. always. How could I have been such an idiot?

That girl saved my life.

She really did.

Because for the first time in probably forever, I realized that I had no clue what I believed. No clue.

Thanks to her, I began a journey to find out exactly what I did believe.

But I also began to wonder, how she saw that inside of me? How she knew that I wasn’t really sure of anything, and how many other people could see that too.

So many of my favorite writers and speakers are making a turn towards vulnerability. A turn towards embracing and then sharing the messiness and the struggles of life.

But in general, I take a step back, and I look at this group of us journeying after Jesus and what I see is a lot of perfection. A lot of trying to “get it right”. A lot of saying the right things. A lot of perfectly dressed for church, and Pinterest perfect houses.

Maybe that’s just  because I am looking in my own mirror. But maybe it’s also because it’s true.

Behind all of those things are hearts that are broken, stories waiting to be told, laundry to be done, faith being shattered.

I think people don’t like us because we look like we’re wrapped up in a nice little bow all the time, not a hair out of place.

Maybe we need to be more concerned with sharing our brokenness, and less concerned with sharing the pretty stuff.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the pretty stuff. I love decorating my house, and putting together outfits.

But maybe that’s not the part of me that needs to be broadcast.

Maybe the part of me that needs to be broadcast the loudest is the part of me that lives in anxiety 90% of the time, and the part of me who doesn’t always believe in God’s goodness, and the part of me who spends some days just surviving.

Maybe that’s what is missing to the people all around us.

The truth.

Maybe we’re so busy showing people how God has changed our lives and how much we are living for him that we’re forgetting to mention that we need him every second or else we fall flat on our smug faces.

“My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in your weakness.”                   {2 Cointhians 12:9}