Thanks to my fabulous blog friend Kathy at Hey, Look A Chicken, I've found a new quote I love. This comes from The World as I Remember It: Through the Eyes of a Ragamuffin by Rich Mullins. It is now on my must-read list.
...I am a Christian because I have seen the love of God lived out in the people who know Him. The Word has become flesh and I have encountered God in the people who have manifested (in many "unreasonable" ways) His Presence; a presence that is more than convincing, it is a Presence that is compelling. I am a Christian not because someone explained the nuts and bolts of Christianity to me, but because there were people who were willing to be the nuts and bolts, who through their explanation of it, held it together so that I could experience it and be compelled by it to obey. "If I be lifted up," Jesus said, "I will draw all men unto me."
St Francis of Assisi said something similar: "Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words." How many times do we try to shove the message of Christ down the throats of unbelievers, insisting He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, yet we don't live any differently than they do? Recognition of what Christ has done for us--and that God allowed His child to die for us--should make our every waking moment different than it was before we knew and loved Christ. I think when the Bible tells us to be "come out from them and be separate" (2 Cor. 6:17), it really means that we should be so different--in the way we live, in our marriages, in our level of compassion, and so forth--that unbelievers notice and yearn to know what, or Who, makes us the way we are. And then, after they are yearning to know, we must "...always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..." 1 Peter 3:15
