Friday, September 9, 2011

Dropping the "F-Bomb"

Now that I have your attention, I bet you’re wondering what this article could be about?

You may be saying to yourself, “Surely it is not what I think it is.” And, you’re correct. The point of the phrase in the title is to communicate about a word without having to repeat it. For some, words are repeatable in some places where they are not permitted in others. That is a bit of where we are going.

On more than one occasion I have been challenged with being able to talk to people about where they stand in their Christian walk. Each of us are at a different place, different pace, and different resting points.

I think we all have a tendency to be nervous about talking about our FAITH (that is the “f” word I am alluding to). We may be fearful because we know that when the word “faith” is mentioned, the whole room may go figuratively silent. Making us feel very awkward in the middle of the situation.

“How do I get out of this?” may be what we’re saying to ourselves as we just dropped the “F-bomb” to our friends. Or maybe it is to people we just met and we feel those awkward looks coming at us, piercing into us.

Yes, I’ve been there.

I think that we want so desperately to be the “good Christian” and share our faith that by the time we say it, it may come across as forced. One reason it has become a “bomb” is because of our lack of familiarity in telling people. Walk up to a gathering where something relates to a life situation you’ve been involved in and you can go on for several minutes talking about it. However, because of the awkwardness or anxiousness of not wanting to offend, we cower at the opportunity to talk about our Savior, faith, or our church. May we be challenged to talk about our faith more, so that it doesn’t become awkward to tell someone else about it.

Now it's your turn? What do you think?

2 comments:

Lynn Hare said...

"Are aces high or low in this card game?" I asked my 21 year old son Andy when he taught me a new card game last week.

I think we sometimes do that with our faith. "Is talking about my faith good in this context, or will it harm us?" we sometimes ask ourselves. If it's a church event, that answer is a piece of cake. But what about at the post office, the grocery store, and our children's schools? Sometimes we pull back and hesitate a bit. It's not always "cool" to talk about our God.

But I think Jesus is right beside us, grinning. "Aces are ALWAYS high," I think He's saying.

Unknown said...

Lynn ~

Interesting analogy...I like it!

It is difficult to know when and how to interject our faith into a situation. For some situations, it could be to bow out of the situation.

You're right...Aces are always high!