Sweet Tea Christians

     My family and I went out for dinner to celebrate my little brother's middle school graduation last night. Due to the fancy pants nature of the restaurant, I constantly had a waiter hovering over me ready to refill my iced tea anytime I took a single sip. I know his intentions were good, but my goodness that drives me crazy. If I had a list of pet peeves, this would be on it. You see, I have a system for sweetening my tea. The second you add more unsweetened tea to my already sweet glass, it throws off the whole thing!

     

     Ask anyone close to me, you do not mess with this girl's sweet tea. I am serious about that stuff. I have a life motto that I rarely share (because people will think I'm a little cray), "There are two things in this world that could never be too sweet: your tea and yourself." That being said, I have another thing that bothers me infinitely times more than refilling a half full glass of iced tea... not sweet people. Even more so, not sweet Christians. 

     

     You see, we as Christians are called to evangelize Christ to the world. It's not a job for a select few, it's a responsibility, a privilege, that we are all granted. But here's the issue - the way we work to fulfill that responsibility is sometimes the same way we fulfill our other (much less important) responsibilities. 

     Let's use an example to illustrate my point. Your boss asks you to market a new product. Naturally, you spend your entire 8-5 workday thinking of new and innovative ways to market that product. You alter your campaign depending on the age range of your audience. But then, at some point, maybe around 6:00pm when you've come home to your family, your efforts diminish. Maybe they don't cease completely, but you're definitely not as productive. Your priority is no longer that ad campaign. 

     We do this with evangelization. We rack our brains trying to come up with fancy ways to "sell Jesus" to those around us. We change our words and behavior depending on who we're interacting with. Our Sunday "work day" is over and we forget our task. We completely miss the point. Christ is love. You share Christ by simply being loving to those around you. Sure, this means those big showy acts of love like buying a meal for a homeless man, or visiting those in prison. But guess what, it also means being respectful to your parents, holding the door open for the stranger behind you, being friendly and affectionate to your spouse, not being snarky to your siblings, and smiling at people. 

     It is ridiculous, a waste of time, and incredibly hypocritical for us to "spend our workday" overcomplicating evangelization when we don't even put effort toward being loving, being sweet to those we interact with multiple times a day. Our world needs more Sweet Tea Christians, our world needs you.

Genesis 22

     Jesus wasn't lying when He said we'd be persecuted if we chose to follow Him. The problem with our perception of this statement is that we have an unrealistic view of the word persecution. You see, we're pretty lucky to live in a society where we face very little verbal or physical persecution for the sake of our faith (in comparison to other areas of the world). I'd argue however, that the type of persecution we face is just as dangerous. We face a type of psychological and emotional persecution when we choose to follow Christ.
     
     A strange phenomenon happens when you devote your life to God where suddenly those once closest to you may feel like complete strangers. People who do not share your love for Christ or passion for the Gospel look down on you with disapproval. Beyond that, some might even pity you. In a matter of moments, you can go from being perceived as a confident, driven, and successful young woman to a disillusioned, naive, undetermined, and weak little girl.

     We were warned this would happen. We've been told since little children in CCE that we may "lose friends" when we choose to put God first. (Although lets be real, anyone you lose in this process probably wasn't the greatest friend to begin with). We're well equipped with bible verses, praise and worship lyrics, and saint quotes to face these tough times! How may times we've heard St. Paul's famous words to Timothy, "I have finished the race. I have kept the faith!" Well, good for you buddy. 

     But come on! You know as well as I do that those words can only go so far. You lose one friend for the sake of Christ... okay. You lose two... alright that sucks a little bit. You lose three... by this point I'm a pro at this, whatever. What happens when the stakes get higher? What happens when the people you start drifting apart from are your family? Or your significant other? What happens then? What happens when the people who have given you the most love are the ones who fail to recognize the source of love itself?

     This is where things get real. This is where your faith is tested. Do you love God more than you love your husband? Do you love Christ more than you love your parents? If your answer to this is "I don't know..." or even "No..." you're not alone. In fact, this has been happening since the days of the Old Testament.

     Remember the story of Abraham? The old guy who prayed and prayed for a son, and God finally blessed him and his wife Sarah with Isaac! Just a few chapters later, God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Yeah... sacrifice, as in kill. Can you imagine the inner turmoil that poor old man must have been going through? The pain and agony of even thinking about killing his child. Followed by the frustration that it was for the sake of God! Hopefully you all know how the story ends. Abraham is about to go through with it all, when God stops him! (Thank goodness. How awful would that story be if he actually ended up killing him?)

     Okay but here's the point. Abraham's faith was being tested. In that critical moment of truth, Abraham chose God over Isaac, trusting that God's plans were greater than his own. Obviously, God wants what's best for us - more than our friends do, more than our parents do. Not only does God want what's best for us, He knows what's best for us. In that moment, God decided losing Isaac wasn't what was best for Abraham.

     Final thought in the course of all this madness. Is it possible that you're Abraham right now? Is there something that God is calling you to do that is causing a distance to form between you and those you love the most? Don't get stuck on the first part of Abraham's story. Understand that God's plans are significantly greater than ours. He will never leave you orphan. He has never failed, and He most definitely isn't about to start.