The following actually happened at a local church recently -
A visitor came for the Sunday service for the first time. He was a 23 year old recent graduate of a local Bible college, he was dressed in a nice polo shirt, nice shorts and sandals. Upon entering the sanctuary, finding a seat and such he was immediately ask by several different people if he was a friend of a regular member of the church - since he was dressed in a similar casual fashion to the way the regular member dresses (minus the sandals - the regular member wears running shoes). The regular member was sitting near him, but the visitor’s response was the key to this post. He said - “I don’t know (named deleted to protect the innocent), so I am not sure if he is my friend yet or not”
How many times do we assume that we know about a person by how they dress, or by how they talk (in terms of speech pattern, word usage, and such). Before the first words are ever spoken between us and others we usually already have a pretty good idea what the person is like, what they think, etc based on preconceived notions. The problem with assumptions is they are sometimes wrong.
Sure they are right some times, they may even be right many times based on our past experiences, but they are also wrong at times. The world has a preconceived idea of what a church is like, and what Christians are like, due to the actions and activities of other churches and Christians they have interacted with. The goal of Christians, and church’s worldwide, should be to make those assumed notions good ones, but many / most times Christians and churches fail at that.
So when a person has a negative reaction to you because of your faith do not be surprised. It is very likely that most people have had negative experiences with Christians, Christianity, and churches before meeting you. The unfortunate thing is that many times the assumptions that people carry in about Christians, Christianity, and churches are true more often then they are wrong. Honestly almost everyone in a church (from leaders and regular attendees to first time visitors and the completely lost) has probably had a bad experience in or with a church at some point. Many times it is hard for both observers and participants to distinguish between the individual acts of Christians and what is taught (many times incorrectly) as the will of God because of how body acts, the ego centered activities of Christians, and other similar issues.
As a Christian you should expect to be “guilty” of many things before you ever say one word to a person. This is because of the bad actions of other “Christians” and churches. That is not a excuse for lack of action or excuse making though. People are going to assume things about you, expect them to be bad when they come to areas of faith and when they are not then rejoice in the good work of God via other Christians. A true Christian will work to help change the assumptions of the world, not for their own glory but for the glory of God and to further His work. The work of God, and the work for God, was never suppose to be easy, but it is the work that the saved are called too. Sure the assumptions of others make it hard at times but that is no reason to stop working or trying.
Assumptions can be and are changed every day throughout the world. That fact should be a forced of positive motivation for us. Assumptions are formed on experience. If we commit ourselves to proper actions then the world’s assumptions about Christian’s and Christianity will be improved. Long and short, if you are saved you should be about helping change what the world assumes to be true about Christians and their faith via God inspired and God directed living.
In the end the goal should be to have a strong answer when ask a difficult question. If you are ask - Are you friends with Jesus (i.e. a Christian)? We should all be able to boldly say - Yes I know Jesus (i.e. saved), and we are friends (i.e. ongoing and maturing relationship). Those two things -salvation and maturity - will do more to help change the assumptions of the world then anything else.
