I was speaking with a young man recently.
He told me that though not always, but whenever the topic about Jesus or the Bible comes up,
whoever brings it up gets teased as “uyyy… Christian… Christian…”
It is a fun and friendly way to mimic persecution experienced by Christians among their non Christian peers.
No ridicule is intended and it seems like a harmless comment.
However, I had to think again what effect it might have in conversations.
Has unspirituality become more of a virtue?
I understand that we continuously battle against spooky spiritualism, mysticism and downright religiosity.
There are people who find demons behind every bush and shout “hallelujah” after tripping or stubbing their toe.
We have enough weirdness going around like an angry volcano spewing lava incessantly.
But derisions and teasing such as these can hamper freedom to express praise and gratitude to God’s amazing love and grace.
It may come to a point that talking about Jesus’ goodness becomes more of an exception than culture.
Hebrews 10:24 (NLT) says, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”
When someone is excited about what they’ve learned from the Bible or share about an answer to prayer, we are told to encourage and motivate one another.
“I bless God every chance I get.” (Psalm 34:1, MSG)
“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:17, NLT)
Jesus said, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” (Luke 19:40)
As Ron Kenoly said many years ago, “Don’t let the rocks outpraise you.”