Fire Water & Green Gravy

So, I'm at a bar (because that's where I think pastors should be) and this guy finds out I'm a pastor. And the FIRST thing he does is cut his eyes to my drink and see what my beverage of choice is that night. It was the great Asa Candler's Coca-Cola Classic. It's usually that or sweet tea. I don't drink. I never really have had the desire to, and my new friend told me why. What surprised me about this was the conversation that followed. I found out he was non-religious, had a general disdain for the Church and many Christians. He had a mistrust toward Christian political activist (don't we all?), and a considered himself happily unattached to any faith. That's fine...so why do you care what I'm drinking. He cares because it is in his blood to care. People care. People in the non-faith world want to see something different in those that follow Christ. You can be in the world and not of it. The call of any Christian is to do just that. But there must be something unique about Christians. Say what you want about alcohol. I know Jesus drank wine. I know Paul encouraged Timothy to drink wine. I believe the wine of the Bible real wine. But...there is a stigma that is attached to alcohol in American culture 2,000 years later. The same could be said for many other behaviors. And if Christians are to avoid even the appearance of evil...well, you can figure that out. We will have enough trouble loving people, being patient, holding our tongue, forgiving wrongful accusers, and offering grace. So, if there are behaviors that are easy to do to help separate Jesus Followers as unique and set apart, why wouldn't we do them. Because I'm finding that even the people who say they don't care -- really do care.

Now, my new friend also said to me about ministry: "I heard there's a lot of money in that." Of course, that's about as offensive a thing as one can say to me. And he must know something about ministry that I don't. Anyway, it just spoke to how so much of our culture is driven by money. Truthfully, it was sad, because I know too many good pastors, nurses, teachers, coaches, and many other professions that have money as the last thing on their list when they chose their profession. Here's the thing, though -- somebody did go into for money and gave my new friend that perception, and that bothers me, too. What we don't realize so often is that if Christians are going to impact the world, then every decision matters, because we will all suffer the consequences of past baggage. Hopefully, we can be about positive influences in and on the world in the future.