What makes us different?

Posted by Jimi Williams on Jul 19, 2010 | 1 comment

I was having some quality “thinking time” this week while mowing the grass. Something about the drone of the mower allows me to ponder.

Here’s the thought: To the unbeliever, what distinction does Christianity have over other (or no) religions? What are we communicating about ourselves? IF we were marketers, how would we sell the Church?

If you follow the practices of many churches, you might say “We have great facilities” or “We do a bunch of really cool activities”. But the Mormons have some really cool buildings as well. And Jewish worshippers were eating and having fun way before us.

You might say, “we have really charismatic speakers and bands that sound like U2″. But there are many incredible non-Christian communicators and our church bands will NEVER be as cool as U2.

You might say that “we do good things”. This is true. But don’t all religious people do good things from time to time? And we are also generous. But Bill Gates is generous too.

So after much thought on the mower, I’m convinced that one single thing separates Christians from all others. Love.

Now, I’m not talking about the superficial “7th grade girlfriend love”. I’m talking about real “don’t care what you do to me I’m still gonna love you” kind of love.

If God is love (1 John 4:8), then His followers should be love. Check out the lyrics to the old hymn “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love”:

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

By our love, by our love

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

Marketers would say “Find the one thing you do better than anyone else and convince the consumer that it’s the most important thing.” I think the convincing part would be pretty easy.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7