December 15, 2014

The Dark Side Has Cookies, So Should We



Yes, Christianity has the truth but the other side has cookies.

Yes, Christianity has an inerrant holy book but the other side has cookies.

Yes, Christianity says that they have a heart for the true God but the other side has cookies.

Yes, Christianity has doctrine and dogma…but the other side has visitors with cookies and good conversation.

Yes, Christianity can be logically and rationally explained, but the adherents of other beliefs bake you cookies and visit you in the old-age home. How many Christians do that? Many Christians expect you to visit them at their church. Some don't but many do expect it.

Yes, many Christians have money that they are willing to tithe or give to the poor...as long as they don't have to see them first-hand or actually get emotionally involved with those suffering. The other side does. 

Even secular humanitarian efforts do as much. How often do you see affluent Christians hitting the slums, crime infested or drug infested areas of the local towns and cities? Christians will give the money to buy the cookies but rarely will they actually bake them and hand deliver them to people that they'll need to learn the names of. 

We have money, they have cookies.

Yes, Christianity has the ideals and principles of Christ but if they are not practiced we have a cold heartless religion.

The other side has warm cookies, kind words and smiles.

The people of the world suspect that Christians know the truth and know God…but they don’t know that you care about them. They don't know until you show them you do. The world usually does not connect the dots to realize that loving God means loving them too, unless you show them you love them. Talk is cheap but cookies are usually free.

You might say you care but the other side shows the world they care. How often can we say we've done that?

We have the truth but they have cookies in gift baskets.

Oven-fresh chocolate chip cookies. We need to have cookies for those we visit too. Visits that we make to show the hurting and the downtrodden that we care enough to bake them cookies, not just care enough to spout religious platitudes and trite clichés at them.

We talk at people about what we believe, the other side talks to them and convinces them through conversation (and cookies). The other side’s compassion and bedside manners show that their ideas are better.

It isn’t what we’re saying to people that causes the effect, it’s how we’re saying it. It isn’t what we’re doing, it’s how we’re doing it. The Gospel needs to be given in a Gospel manner. This means in love, humility and understanding. Cookies never hurt either.

Other religions and worldviews have religions of works but Christianity should be showcased as a relationship whose main fruit is humility, charity and love. Doing little or nothing shows none of these. Our belief is not a religion of works so much as it is a relationship whose main outworking is righteous deeds.

Everyone that wants something from someone knows how to show people love. To actually love someone is another thing altogether. Love is more than lip-service…it is first, a friendly visit with fresh cookies. Then it is prayer, Bible and commitment.

I like chocolate chip cookies, don’t you?

[Take this post for what it is, a tongue-in-cheek look at some painful truths about the Evangelical church that at times, forgets to show its human side. In so doing, false religions and even atheists end up showing their human side better than we do. True faith shows actions to those in need.]

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