Jesus Christ Blog

by John Fischer

Deedee is a massage therapist in training. She speaks of the interesting and beautiful people she has met while attending Massage Therapy School. One particular person was clear about being what he called “anti-Christian.” (I know we’ve been on this topic for a couple days now, but you guys keep coming up with such good ideas, I can’t resist piggybacking on your great comments and stories.) So Deedee said, in an attempt to win over this self-proclaimed “anti-Christian,” “Hey, how about some UPR for the Christian people?” (UPR is a massage therapy term for “Unconditional Positive Regard.”) His response was noteworthy: “Well I have UPR for only you, because I met you before I knew that you were a Christian, and I liked you.” The implication being, he still likes her anyway.

This is actually a perfect illustration of how you and I as Christians can cut through people’s barriers and preconceptions about Christians and Christianity (and there are many these days). Get to know them first as human beings. Don’t lead with your Christianity; lead with your love, care and friendliness. Find common ground with people and show an interest in what interests them. (A good reason, by the way, for having lots of varied interests and concerns. The more interests you have, the more people you can connect to.)

Listen. Learn. Develop meaningful relationships based on shared concerns and then when someone finds out you are “one of those Christians,” they will have to rethink their idea of what a Christian is, or make an exception for you like Deedee’s friend did. Either way, you’ve broken through their resistance, and who knows what might happen after that?

To this end, I think we should also borrow a chapter from Deedee’s massage therapy manual and give out lots of Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR) to everyone we meet. I can’t think of a better way to express how we should regard all people, regardless. Everyone is made in God’s image, loved by God, forgiven by Jesus, and precious in His sight. That’s a lot of positive regard, and that’s just for starters!

1 Peter 3:15 says: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” - “respect” being the operable word here. Let’s focus on giving out lots of UPR today!