They Will Know We Are Christians...By Our Love

Reaching out to the youth incarcerated at the local juvenile detention center had been another eye-opening venture. The number in attendance varied widely from week to week and I was still learning how things operated and how best to reach these kids. It was easy to see they were troubled and perhaps their greatest question regarding God was the timeless question of, “If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world?” 

One young man stands out in my mind. Only two youth had decided to attend on this particular day. I was a little disappointed that more kids hadn’t chosen to attend, but God is wise and God is good. When there are a lot of kids, they tend to put their guard up. It is far less likely that any would show vulnerability or answer too honestly in a crowd. With only two, this young Native American was soft-spoken, but bared his soul. When I asked why he had chosen to come, his answer was, “I think I need a little Jesus.” To which I replied, “Don’t we all!” 

He went on to share how both his mom and his grandma had been encouraging him to pray and to go to church. He seemed to have found himself in a place where he may as well give it a shot. He was quick to point out more than once, however, that he wasn’t too sure he believed there really was a God. When I asked him what made it hard for him to believe in God, his answer—maybe even more so, the look in his eyes and the hushed brokenness in his voice—broke my heart. He had never experienced any of the good, the blessings, that God seemed to promise in the Bible. On the streets, it had never paid to “be good.” Being good only got you in a place where you would be taken advantage of, beat up, abused. It didn’t get you food or clothes or a safe place to sleep. Lying and stealing, being “tough,” seemed to be the only thing that worked in his world.

I have been learning so much about the difference between “my” world and “their” world. The stories of the women in the jail, the kids in the behavioral health center . . . their homes and families were a far cry from the blessing I was born into. More and more I have been thinking of the children (who are now incarcerated youth or adults) who did not choose to be born into poverty, addiction, neglect, abuse. No more than I got to choose to be born into a home with Christian values, stability, warmth, food . . . love.

Suddenly rather than my typical response of why there is suffering in the world: Genesis 3, The Fall, sin, and of personal accountability—making better choices, having a better work ethic—and pointing my finger at them, I found my finger pointing back at me . . . at the church. Where had we been, as Christians? If we are to be the light in this dark world . . . if we are to be the hands and feet of Christ . . . if we are to be Christ to these people . . . where had we been? As this young man was stealing food in order to have a meal, I may have been at a restaurant, a party, or a potluck at my church. As he was shivering in the cold without warm clothes or even a place to sleep, I may have been in my recliner in front of the fire, taking a hot bath, or crawling into my warm bed. 

As this young man questioned if there really was a God because he had never experienced the rumored love or the promised blessings, I realized how I had failed him . . . how the church had failed him. If one Christian had stepped into his life—not just to drop off a quilt, or a donation for the school he had dropped out of, but really stepped into his life—with mentoring, with a meal at a family dinner table, with new shoes to wear as they played a game of scrimmage—together, with a phone call to see how he was doing . . .  If one Christian had left their white picket fence world to enter into his messy, hard world . . . he would have seen Christ. He would have known there was a God. That would have been his evidence. And he may not have ended up sitting in the seat across from me . . .

It’s not considered respectful for a Native American to stare into the eyes of an elder, it would be considered aggressive or rude. So, when he did lift his downcast eyes to meet mine briefly, all I could answer with in that moment was, “There’s a verse in the Bible that says: ‘They will know we are Christians by our love.’ I’m afraid we haven’t done that very well.”

May we go out with as much love as we do evidence. May we be willing to enter into the messy and the hard. May we meet them where they are and shine the light we have been given, to give them hope. 

“Let us not become weary in doing

good, for at the proper time we will

reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Galatians 6:9 NIV

“By this everyone will know

that you are my disciples,

if you love one another.”

1 John 13:35 NIV

“In the same way, let your light shine

before others, that they may see

your good deeds and glorify

your Father in heaven.”  

Matthew 5:16 NIV