Christianese
“Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who
asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.” 1 Peter 3:15
There are certain
places that scare me to death. When
I was a kid, it was that abandoned house down the block that I knew was
haunted. Or that crawl space beneath our
home that monsters occupied. The thought
of going there was more than I could bear.
Even thought I’ve
grown up, I still feel the same. As
they say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Now I’m scared of other places. Especially computer stores. While I have a much more mild case of it, it
was one time much more severe. You see,
I suffered from a common ailment known as “cyberstoraphobia” or “fear of
computer stores.”
Some years ago, I
made rare visit to a local outfit and true to form, my nightmare came
true. The minute I walked into the
store, I felt like every junkie in the place was looking at me. Maybe it was my mouth hanging open as if
aliens had landed. Or maybe it was the
look of being “clueless.” Either way, I
felt like I had been issued a dunce cap and ushered into the Harvard PhD
program. Immediately, I gravitated to
the section with manuals. Books entitled
“Windows for Idiots” and “Excel for the Brainless” fit me like a custom-made
suit. Apparently, there were other
cyberphobes on the planet or these publishers would be losing big bucks.
Failing to remain
unnoticeable, a salesperson came over.
“Can I help you?” he said. “Do
you have one of the dillimabobs that make one of those thingamagigs?” I responded.
I had heard that anything with “gigs” sounds computerish. Unimpressed, he said, “Is it a multi-task, 48
megabyte hard drive system?” “Ahhhhh,
yeah!” trying to sound confident. (Frankly,
I’m not sure I could tell the difference between a megabyte, an overbite, or a
Tishbite). Somehow the conversation went south from there. I’m not sure I know what I needed and he
wasn’t sure why I was allowed in the door.
Either way, we never quite connected.
Christians have an
indigenous language just like computer geeks. It’s called “Christianese.” Much like my computer store experience, it
can separate us from the non-Christian.
People who are unfamiliar with our faith are befuddled when we say, “Are
you under the blood?” “Have you been justified?” and “Have you found it?” These are common language to a fellow
believer but gibberish to the unreached.
As we become more aware, God will help us speak a language that communicates
to those around us.
- Take time to listen: A deep empathy usually opens the door that we might minister to their hurts (James 1:19)
- Offer to pray: Prayer speaks that you care and identifies your commitment to Christ without cramming your witness too strongly (James 5:16)
- Show kinds acts unconditionally: James says, “Faith without works is dead.” (2:17) Are we different from others?
- Communicate your faith practically: Paul attempted to be “all things to all people.” Say something like…”In church, I heard” or “Reading my Bible, I noticed…”
One more thing. Assume they want what you’ve got. They may not know how to ask for it or speak
the language, but they can sure identify when someone cares.
Terry Risser
Reflections
1)
What is your biggest struggle in evangelism?
2)
What might be a simple way you can identify
yourself as a Christian to a co-worker or neighbor?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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