I had a long conversation yesterday with a Christian lady whose husband refuses to attend church with her.
As she described the situation — and how the intimacy gap in her marriage is increasing as she grows closer to Christ — I sensed a bit of her emotional pain.
It’s not just the slowly eroding common ground with her husband that bothers her but also the increasingly evident discomfort that her husband’s weekend activity buddies sense when she declines offers to drink beer with them.
They haven’t reached the point yet of verbally telling her to go away, but she can already feel the uneasiness that others feel when she repeatedly rejects the offer of a beer.
It’s a trend that I’ve seen a number of Christians experience. Some believers keep living the set-apart lifestyle in what they consume, recognizing that such choices are clear, yet non-confrontational ways to declare faith in the Lord.
Other believers waver in their determination, though, to live differently than the world.
Why? Because they don’t want to be told to “Go away.”
I was reminded of this topic today while reading from Matthew 8:28-34. Jesus and His disciples had arrived on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee via boat and were walking along the shore near a cemetery. Two demon-possessed men who violently terrorized anybody that passed that way ran up to Jesus and, rather than trying to attack Him, chose to ask Him two questions:
“What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
Jesus saw the desperate need of these men and healed them by ordering the demons within them to enter a herd of pigs that then ran off a cliff. It should have been a great time of celebration for the nearby people who no longer worried about having to be attacked when visiting loved ones’ graves.
That’s not what resulted, though.
Instead, the people told Jesus to go away.
Wow.
Apparently, they focused on what they had lost rather than what they had gained.
It’s my view that many non-Christians don’t like feeling Christian lifestyle influence because it subtly calls upon them to give up practices that they know aren’t good for them spiritually and frequently are physically unhealthy.
Many of us have felt what the lady above feels when she doesn’t accept offers to consume beer or mixed drinks at weekend social events with her husband.
Many of us have felt quite clearly the desire of others that we would just go away just as the people in Matthew 8 told Jesus.
Please, dear friend, don’t allow the discomfort of othes with your godly lifestyle to determine your direction and dimensions of Kingdom service.
Ask God to strengthen you and guide you so that, even in the midst of the unwelcome attitudes and actions, you might still help those who need freedom from the Enemy’s grip.
Just as the two demon-possessed men and their families were thrilled and forever changed by Christ’s ministry to them, despite the public opposition, so will the lives of unsaved, hurting co-workers you will influence toward the Cross.
The people at work might not like losing a drinking/dirty joke buddy, but that saved soul will sure like gaining an eternity-promised/earthly peace life. And so will his or her family.
As always, I love you
Martin
