This Invitational Lifeনমুনা

Jesus and Immanuel

Some of us live with a mighty-to-save approach to relationships. We forget about time, conversation, and trust building, and we skip straight to the need for a savior. Sometimes we drop a Jesus bomb and walk away. We don’t want to be known.

We don’t want to be seen. We just want to drop some truth and say, “I’m done.” But you can’t really save someone if you’re never with him. You can’t save a drowning person unless you jump in the water with her. And you can’t speak into somebody’s life without first learning who they are and what motivates them.

Then there are some of us who love to be with people but never want to talk about Jesus being mighty to save. We’re afraid that if we bring up Jesus in a conversation, people won’t want to be around us. We don’t want to be pushy. We don’t want be rejected. We silence the story of redemption that God has written for us so we can avoid awkwardness or separation. But you’re not really friends with someone if you’re unable to talk about what matters most to you.

For many Christians, the Bible doesn’t start in Genesis 1; it starts in Genesis 3 with the fall. When that happens, we are living without the goodness of our origin. Instead, we are living within the pain of our fall and struggle. From that broken perspective, we approach the people in our lives as threats to hide from, just as the first people did when God came looking for them. We build walls to keep people out, and we look for reasons to separate ourselves from those who are different.

Sharing our faith is about the power of bringing the two amazing names—Jesus and Immanuel—together. God saves and God with us. Every person was created in the image of God. That means whether someone is a follower of Jesus or not, that individual has something to teach me about God. And if I want to be an influence, I am more effective if I first let the person influence me. Imagine if Jesus-followers lived their day-to-day lives with this perspective.

Imagine if we all approached the people we encounter with the awareness that they have something to teach us about God.