Wake Up Call

I read a startling and sad statistic tonight:
20% of "non-Christians" in North America do not know a single Christ follower...
WHAT?!?
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/august-web-only/non-christians-who-dont-know-christians.html

This is not okay. At all. Not only are we, as Christ followers, dropping the ball in the realm of loving our neighbor, but we are missing valuable opportunities to invest in peoples lives... people whom God loves deeply and from whom we could learn a lot from. This statistic screams disregard for the second greatest commandment that Jesus gave: LOVE OTHERS.

We need to step out of our protective and comfortable "Christian bubbles." I do not say that to belittle the importance of community within the church, but there comes a point when we restrict ourselves too greatly out of fear of people who are different from us. Jesus went to the Gentiles, and we need to go to people of other faiths to share in community with them. Own the lostness around you and start loving people without discrimination due to religion.

If we aren't proclaiming the gospel, what are we doing? Answer: Not fulfilling God's call for our lives. We have an incredible opportunity as Americans. Our country is bursting with diversity. Take advantage of that and expand your worldview. We have the greatest truth that anyone could ever hear and it would be awfully selfish to keep it to ourselves. In fact, if we love God as much as we like to say we do, we wouldn't be able to keep the gospel to ourselves. We are commanded to be the hands of feet of Jesus... so, GO!