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!

 something fall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the
 
 corner of one eye, he saw something red on his shirt.
 
 
 He could not turn to see what it was because where the oak tree had been
 
 was a large square piece of wood in the ground. He raised his head and
 
 saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike through them.
 
  
 He raised his head more, and t ears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus
 
  hanging on a cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a
 
 torn and battered body, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw
 
 the suffering and pain on His precious face. As their eyes met, the
 
 man’s tears turned to sobbing, and Jesus began to speak.
 
 
 “Have you ever told a lie?” He asked?
 
  
 The man answered - “yes, Lord.”
 
  
 “Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?”
 
  
 The man answered - ” yes. Lord.” And the man sobbed more and more.
 
  
 “Have you ever taken something from work that wasn’t yours?” Jesus
 
 asked ?
 
  
 And the man answered - “yes, Lord.”
 
  
 “Have you ever sworn, using my Father’s name in vain? “  
  The man, crying now, answered - “yes, Lord.”
  
 As Jesus asked many more times, “Have you ever”? The man’s crying
 
 became uncontrollable, for he could only answer - “yes, Lord.”
 
 
 Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man felt
 
 something fall on his other shoulder. He looked and saw that it was the
 
 Blood of Jesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of
 
 Jesus, and there was a look of love the man had never seen or known
 
 before.
 
 
 Jesus said, “I didn’t deserve this either, but I forgive you.”

To forgive is to set the prisoner free, and then discover the prisoner was you.

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13

by John Fischer

Not all of you have time to follow the many comments that I post each day about the current “Catch of the Day.” Yesterday there was a valuable exchange that was so important, I thought we could all benefit. This discussion should contribute to those on either side of belief.

(Besides, by the way, I personally don’t think there are many people who truly don’t believe; they are just trying to tell themselves they don’t, because they are mad at God for something, or don’t want anyone messing with their life.)