A New Kind of Flirting (April 2020)
Editor’s Note: At the time of writing this, social distancing because of the coronavirus was not yet implemented. However, when life gets back to “normal” (whenever that may be), we as believers will have a great opportunity to “flirt” and share Jesus, perhaps like never before.
In his book The Tangible Kingdom, Hugh Halter states that when he walks into a Starbucks, even though the coffee is excellent, he is not necessarily thinking about coffee. He is thinking about the people in the coffee shop who do not yet know Christ. Hugh desires to build meaningful connections and talk about life. He genuinely cares about the people he meets for those brief moments and longs for them to encounter Christ. Without an agenda of seeing an individual as a project but as a real-life human being, he engages in conversation. This perspective is extremely important. For when we see someone as a mere project, the individual can feel and see it from miles away and rather than be drawn to Christ. The person is repelled from the message because of the insensitive messenger.
Christ longs for us to see people as He does. So, whether on the train, bus, or other mode of transportation to the job, notice the people around you. Whether at the soccer game or event for your child, or at an event for yourself, the bigger picture is always God’s Kingdom and the people you encounter. For the Christ follower, gone are the mundane routines of going up and down the grocery aisles in sheer exhaustion longing to be home, but it is about looking for divine encounters with the people you bump into in the aisles. Often, it’s in the middle of your frustrating job that God in His sovereignty has brought people into your sphere of influence. It’s the little conversations that turn into big conversations that turn into relationships. Our attitude, our display of Christ in words and actions before people is crucial in advancing God’s kingdom.
The mentality of us versus them must die. True, no one can be born again except through Jesus Christ. However, the labels we place on people may just be the reason we avoid and keep our distance rather than engage and “flirt.”
What I love about Jesus, which is so unlike me, is that while He knows a person’s sins his preoccupation is not on what they are doing, but what they can become in Him. He has the very same feelings about you and me, never condoning our sins but seeing a future relationship with Him. He changes our identity from sinner to child of God.
John 1:14 paraphrased says, “The Word, meaning Jesus (God in the flesh) moved about the neighborhood and connected with people, even “flirted “ with people because He loved them, and soon he knew He would die for them.”
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) the people, with their many opinions of who He was and what He would do for them, cheered. However, the glitter of the parade and His popularity was meaningless to Jesus. It was the people that lined the streets that mattered. The words Jesus portrayed in that two- mile journey was “Come and die with me. Lose your life and you will find it. What does it profit to gain the whole world but lose your soul? I have come to rescue you.”
Even on the cross, Jesus engaged in a conversation with a thief that offered and guaranteed new life. People mocked, rejected, and ignored Him; nevertheless, Jesus gave his life, because what mattered most were people. Blessings in the Risen One, Jesus.
Pastor Rich Edwards
But very early on Sunday morning[a] the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! (Luke 24:1-6)