Fair Game

Spirituality Column #62
January 15, 2008
Curren in Carmel (IN) newspaper

Fair Game
By Bob Walters

This random but good question popped up recently when Carmel resident Derek Duncan, senior minister at East 91st Street Christian Church in Castleton, was addressing a Bible study group about building plans and ministry priorities:

“What are the three greatest barriers (that prevent people from) believing in Christ?”

Off the cuff Duncan came up with these:

1. People don’t see the need. Life is good. Kids are good. Career is good. Money is good. Health is good. I’m a good person … who needs a “savior?”

2. They had a bad experience in church, see that the church doesn’t always change people, and think “Why would I want to be one of those hypocrites?”

3. People (who do believe in Christ) are not passionate about talking about Christ.

True, true and true.

We all need to have that kind of clear understanding of what other people see when they look at us as Christians. Add your own items to the list. It helps us to understand our own individual ministries.

In my case, I’d add:

- We may not have the courage to openly identify ourself as a Christian.

- I’m too smart to believe all that Jesus stuff.

- We know it’s not, but we want life to be fair, and God seems so eminently unfair when earthly things go haywire – sickness, disaster, war, horrid relationships, etc. – that we ask “where is God’s goodness?” instead of truly trusting God.

Think about what you would add to the list.

The Christian walk is about having a close, personal and trusting relationship with God. The Bible is a book of relationships, none more important than the one Jesus invites us to have with God, through the Holy Spirit that lives (yes, it really does) in each of us.

Asking God to be fair based on what we want or understand rarely reveals satisfying answers and always creates barriers. How about just asking God to help us trust Him in all things (Psalm 119:86, John 14:1) and to show us how to be bold for Christ?

That’s fair.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) long ago was a decent professional tennis umpire and tried to be fair, but usually got yelled at anyway.