Christ:The Meaty Bone!!

It’s hard for me to believe that not everyone I talk to is as interested in Jesus as I am.  You all know that spreading the good news is my passion, even more than photography, and I love photography!! When I see folks living a life apart from God, it breaks my heart.  Part of me wants to physically pull them away from their “sinful” lifestyles, but that isn’t only impossible, it’s not the way God wants it done.

Imagine, if you will, a dog chewing on a dirty, stinky, old bone.  He’s very content, so don’t even think about trying to take that nasty thing away from him, unless you want to get bitten. The only way you can persuade him to drop it is to offer him something better in the form of a nice, big, juicy, meaty, fresh bone.  He may not jump at the new one right away, he’ll need to sniff on it for a bit, and maybe even go back to the yucky one for comparison, until he realizes that the meaty one is far superior.

 OK, so a dog may not put that much thought into the choice. The point I’m trying to make is, people get accustomed to their lifestyles, and like that bone-chomping pooch, the only way to draw them away is to show them something better.  This is where we come in as followers of Christ.  Our lives should be so enticing, so delightfully fragrant, that people looking at us will want to venture over for a “sniff”. True, they need to give Christianity more than a quick once over, but as we keep exuding the joy that is within us, many will be won over.

As I see Christ in action, I never see him forcibly pulling people away from sin, instead he too, uses the meaty bone technique.  It’s not our role to belittle or demean, those separated brothers and sisters, only to lovingly draw them in.  “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” 2 Corinthians 2:14. Or, to sum it up, Paul tells us this as he leads us into the “Love Chapter”,  “But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.” 1 Corinthians 12:31.  We live a life that is truly best of all, let’s offer to the world what we’ve found!