Winning Respect

In my neck of the woods, we have just endured (suffered might be a better word) the primary season for the upcoming November elections. Unfortunately, Georgia law requires a 50% plus 1 vote count in order to win, so we are now in a similar world of run-off elections to see who will be the nominee for various offices – from county commissioners to state legislators to the governor to  US Senate candidates. 

In a state where the civic Jesus is still pretty popular, candidates often approach elections by seeing if they can “out Christian” their opponents. Seemingly every issue before every government has an official “Christian option” and the politicians are determined to identify that option with their campaigns. When more than one candidate sees the same “Christian option,” then the effort to “out Christian” each other takes on Mach level speed. 

All of that has had me thinking about the use of adjectives. In particular, it makes me wonder about the need to attach the adjective “Christian” to my points of view, my position on issues, and especially on my life. If I truly am a “Christian candidate,” wouldn’t you know that without the adjective “Christian” on every campaign poster? Even more complicated for me is the fact that all sorts of positions get labeled “the Christian option” when I’m pretty confident Christians might view that issue differently. One of the mailers in my box recently declared “Christians stand for the Second Amendment.” Really?

In a remarkable little sentence in 1 Thessalonians 4, just before he launches into a protracted (for 1 Thessalonians) discussion of the reappearing of Jesus, Paul is talking about our daily lifestyles and notes that how we live is important so that “your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11, 12, NIV) That is prefaced by his admonition that we should “live a quiet life, mind our own business, and work with our hands.” 

The word Paul uses that is reflected in “win the respect of outsiders” is from a family of words, not used very often in the New Testament, that suggests “decent, proper, becomingly, appropriate, and presentability.” I’ve tried, but failed, to find a way to think that Paul really isn’t suggesting that how I daily live my life is how I win the respect of outsiders, that is, unbelievers. But it seems pretty obvious that this is precisely what he is saying. When all is said and done, my most important avenue for influencing non-believers is what they see me do in my daily living.

You don’t have to do a lot of research to know that at this particular juncture in Western culture, believers aren’t at the top of the list of things people respect. The civic Jesus roars with a bit of arrogance that this simply demonstrates how far our culture has drifted from its moorings. But the Jesus of Scripture would remind us “how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” (Matthew 23:37, NIV)

If you think about it, when the choice is a “lecture on what is wrong with you” or “an invitation to come and find protection,” that really isn’t a hard decision to make. It boils down to the nature of the gospel itself – is it “fix your lives and come to Jesus” or “come to Jesus and let’s fix our lives together.”

I’m confident that the answer is the latter of those two options and equally confident that is why Paul wants us to live our daily lives in a way that “wins the respect of outsiders.” It shouldn’t require an adjective before my name and life to make that happen.