What is Christianity Today?

I found this short, interesting bit through Medium. (I think it was on Medium; I don’t how I got there. The internet!)

[W]hile Christianity may never be relevant or cool, here’s what it will be: Attractive.

People will be curious why you were kind to them when they may have been a jerk to you. That’s attractive. People will wonder why you value the broken, poor, and marginalized and use your finances, life, and time to help them (even if they never change). That’s attractive. People will marvel that your friend group doesn’t just consist of people the same color, sexual orientation, or nationality as you, but it spans different beliefs, races, and political views. They’ll be shocked you serve, love, laugh, and mourn with them. That’s attractive.

And finally, people will come to understand the truth of what we believe as Dr. Timothy Keller so eloquently put it:

“So loved that we don’t despair when we do wrong, but so sinful that we have no right to be puffed up when we do right.”

It’s a post by HeartSupport, which is a Christian organization that offers support, advice, and answers to practical, contemporary questions. That’s my description, from about fifteen minutes of poking around on their site. (I suggest you do the same!) They travel to schools and set up booths at places like the Warped Tour. They post blogs with titles like, “Why American-ized Dating is Screw Up Our Marriages,” and “Ten Random Good Things I Remember When My Heart is Smashed To Bits.” These are intriguing headlines! And I’ve opened several of them for reading. But if you’re like me, you start to worry that you haven’t seen the word Jesus or grace or sin after ten minutes. I literally thought, “Whew.” when I read this bit from a post titled, “Why I’m a Christian (and Continue to Suck at Being One)”.

[T]he cross where Jesus died was a reminder that as good as we try to be, we still need someone to save us from ourselves because at the end of the day we love to compare ourselves to scoundrels. But Christianity teaches that if anything we realize what a train wreck we are, and so when we see people in this light it humbles us.

I say hallelujah for bits like this. While I hope to see more of this kind of truth in HeartSupport, I understand this kind of Christianity-framing that often invites criticism from “learned Christians.” The criticism may well be valid on its own, but I often notice that when I am postured to see WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY, I end up feeling primarily really good about myself. Of course, that’s entirely beside the point. The truth that is being clearly touted here, to a people that (I would imagine) rarely hear this kind of truth, is that Christ brings grace and mercy.

 

 

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