Followers of Jesus are supposed to be attractive. In other words, people outside of the faith should be drawn to us instead of being repelled by us. Unfortunately, many non-Christians are turned off by professing Christians. For sure we are to be different, but not repulsive. We are to be like Jesus, yet it is so interesting to me that Jesus seemed to have no problem attracting unbelievers to Himself. So how do we become a more attractive Christian?
Here are 5 ways:
1. Stop being the moral police.
Many followers of Jesus have taken it upon themselves to be the moral conscience of society. We take to Facebook and other forms of social media to call people out on their sin. In casual conversation, we cast judgement on the “sinful behavior” of the world. Christians fail to understand that unbelievers receive this as a lack of love at best and hypocritical and hateful at worst, and they are repulsed either way.
2. Stop with the politics.
Outsiders generally feel that people of faith use Jesus and Christianity to validate and advance their political agenda. I am not saying that Christians shouldn’t have strong political views or that they should not vote. What I am saying is that when we get political as Jesus followers, we can really push people away from the faith. We must remember that there is another Kingdom that is even more real than the visible one in which we live. Our allegiance to and love for that Kingdom needs to be our first agenda. We are Christians first, Americans second.
3. Stop complaining.
It’s weird to say this as a pastor, but there are times I don’t like Christians. The reason is that they seem to complain about everything–the culture, the food brought out by the waiter, the music in their church, the sermons their pastor gives… and on and on it goes. When people hear all of this complaining, who would want to become like that? The Apostle Paul instructs us to, “Do everything without complaining and arguing…” (Philippians 2:14), yet we seem to whine about everything under the sun! We need to learn to go with flow and just chill out.
4. Be generous.
Our leader said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Generosity is incredibly attractive. My favorite people on this planet are those who give abundantly to others. They are happier and healthier, and they live more satisfied lives. There is a joy in their lives that is contagious. I am convinced that we are never more like God than when we are giving our time and resources to others. A generous life can give an unbeliever more of an understanding of God than 100 sermons!
5. Become Christlike.
Sheldon Vanauken once said, “…the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians. When they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.” When Christians don’t act like Christ, we make Christianity repulsive. We are to be, as Jesus said in Matthew 5, “salt and light.” Salt adds flavor, and light shows the way. The fruit of the Spirit is to become our basic character, “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22, 23) The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ. When we are Christlike, unbelievers will be drawn to us in the same way they were drawn to Jesus. (Luke 5:29; Luke 15:1)
The bottom line is that unbelievers were attracted to Jesus. They wanted to be around Him and to hear what He had to say. If that is not true of us, the problem is not with them, it’s with us. We must become more attractive Christians so that more people can enter into a personal relationship with Jesus.
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