Today's Woo comes from my friend Jon Acuff. I'm pretty sure he and I, and thousands of others, are tight enough to call each other friend. Anyway, he write this. I like it.
Here it is. You can also see it on his site.
by Jon Acuff
Why do some Christians use shame as a way to tell people about Christ?
Why is shame sometimes the first thing you experience from Christians?
Why do we use shame sometimes when we witness?
Because love takes too long.
Love is too messy.
It’s slow and out of our control.
And worst of all, love makes us vulnerable.
Shame doesn’t really require me to let my guard down.
I get to lob rocks from behind the safety of my walls.
Love?
Love exposes us.
It unmans us.
It disarms us.
And then, there is the considerable risk that we won’t be loved back.
So we pick shame.
And we take steps away from a Christ who never used that as a tool for evangelism. Was he honest? Direct? Did he even use the R word? Repent? Of course!
But did he deploy shame? When a shame parade landed at his feet with a woman they wanted to stone, what was his response? When the Pharisees deployed shame about his dinner party guests what did he do? When the woman at the well approached, did he offer water or shame?
Love is slow.
Love is sloppy.
Love is tangled and difficult at times.
But at the end of the day, to quote Bob Goff, love does.
Why do some Christians use shame as a way to tell people about Christ?
Why is shame sometimes the first thing you experience from Christians?
Why do we use shame sometimes when we witness?
Because love takes too long.
Love is too messy.
It’s slow and out of our control.
And worst of all, love makes us vulnerable.
Shame doesn’t really require me to let my guard down.
I get to lob rocks from behind the safety of my walls.
Love?
Love exposes us.
It unmans us.
It disarms us.
And then, there is the considerable risk that we won’t be loved back.
So we pick shame.
And we take steps away from a Christ who never used that as a tool for evangelism. Was he honest? Direct? Did he even use the R word? Repent? Of course!
But did he deploy shame? When a shame parade landed at his feet with a woman they wanted to stone, what was his response? When the Pharisees deployed shame about his dinner party guests what did he do? When the woman at the well approached, did he offer water or shame?
Love is slow.
Love is sloppy.
Love is tangled and difficult at times.
But at the end of the day, to quote Bob Goff, love does.
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