The other day at Wal-Mart I
couldn‘t help overhearing this conversation:
First lady: “We have always home
schooled, but she will be starting 6th grade, so we are looking into
a Christian school. There is no way I am
sending her to Woodstock Middle School. I
don’t want her in that place.”
Friend: “Really, I would think
there would be a lot of opportunities there.”
First lady: “I just don’t want her
around that influence.”
Just then, on the other side of me
(where the mothers probably couldn’t hear the girls) I heard the friend’s daughter,
“You aren’t going to be at Woodstock?”
First lady’s daughter replied in a
tween girl’s haughty manner, “Of course, I don’t want to turn out bad like
you.” (There was no smile or giggle.)
This conversation bothered me for several reasons. First of
all, I hope that the daughters were friends and that the one girl was kidding,
and the other one took it as that. (However, nothing in either of their
expressions or body language demonstrated it.) That was disturbing, but I have
been around middle school kids enough to know that such insulting talk is not
an unusual thing to hear in that circle.
What truly disturbed me that afternoon was the attitude of
the “Christian” mother. She embodied v to me why the world is going to hell and
the church is so ineffective in its efforts to change that. Now, I don’t know
this particular lady, but the conversation I overheard reminded me of many
people I have known in the past. At one time in my life, I might have been
tempted to agree with her. I might even
have thought she was wise, but as I have grown older, I have come to a
different understanding.
Though churches are growing larger, the world gets no better
and could be said to be getting worse.
Things that shocked my parents’ generation, and even some things that were
shocking my “everything is all right as long as no one gets hurt” baby boom
generation, are now considered normal parts of life.
There is a strong temptation for Christians to seal
ourselves, and our families, into a fortress where we are not confronted by the
lost world. That would be nice and I
believe if we remain true we will be rewarded with the privilege of spending
eternity in a place like that. It is
called heaven! In the meantime, we have
an assignment. It entails making disciples of all kinds of people--people of a
different socio-economic stratum, opposing political views, and even those with
lifestyles that run counter to our beliefs. Instead of meeting those folks on
their turf and demonstrating the redeeming love of Jesus by the way we speak,
live, and love, we do our best to separate ourselves from the very people God
has assigned us to reach. Jesus’ teaching is that we are to be in the world,
but not of it. We must dare to be
different in the world. It is not God’s
plan for us to become a novel colony within the broader world, but to become salt
and light to that world - salt that melts cold hard hearts and light that does
a lot more than show them their error.
We are to be the light that leads them to the Savior.
Although I know that as I get older, I am considered more
and more eccentric, I didn’t think I was old enough, or quite eccentric enough
to get away with confronting that lady.
What I wish I had done is to start humming the old chorus, “This Little
Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let it Shine” as I stood there. This lady was not being light. She didn’t
care about being light. She just wanted to be safe and comfortable. That desire
to be safe and comfortable is thwarting the influence of the church and killing
many congregations. Now, my problem is not with Christian schools or home
schooling. My problem is with the mind-set
that limits the influence of Christians because the world makes us
uncomfortable. Now if the secular school
they were discussing was literally physically dangerous, I would encourage her
to seek a safer environment for her daughter, but I am pretty sure this
particular school is not like that. Her daughter, and their family could have
been the salt and light someone needed. On
second thought, given the daughter’s snotty statement to the other girl, it
might be better for the Kingdom to keep her with Christians and away from
sinners. I’ve changed my mind. Mom at Wal-mart, please don’t send your child to
the public school. With the attitude you and she exhibit you would give
Christians a bad name.
God bless you as you find ways to be salt and light in your
corner of the world!
