Re:action – Seriously

Seriously

I was called out as “one of those people” yesterday! What a demeaning slam on someone’s character! How is someone supposed to respond to a statement like “Oh, you’re one of those?!” I signed up a few weeks ago to be a part of a Bible Study geared toward understanding missions and a Christian’s call to spread the Gospel. We’re reading a book, a good book. The book I mentioned in the previous post Let the nations be glad by John Piper. Last night in our discussion of the book I mentioned a great point that was made in one of the footnotes that apparently no-one had read. No problem, i don’t always read footnotes. Throughout my collegiate career if I read just the preface of a book I felt like I was giving a reasonable effort. Last night though, when the guy next to me cracked his sarcasm, I wanted to say “yeah! one of those people that actually cares.” My friend might have less of an interest in Piper, which is fine with me. My encouragement was to take the subject more seriously, but I’m afraid it’s easier to ignore the challenging parts.
So, why is ignorance so blissful? Why is it easier to be apathetic? Is this sort of ignorance leading to a much larger problem? I hope you agree that it is. For Americans, corruption in politics, climate change, humanitarian injustice, corporate greed, and the thousands of specific issues that plague us could cease to exist if people took responsibility. The global responsibilities that we’re enlightened by the news every single day could be more than the fuel for our of fear and worrying, or worse yet, for our entertainment! Even more critical than those issues, for Christians, what if ignorance toward spiritual questions and apathy toward an accurate understanding of who God is and our role as human beings was hindering us from experiencing and sharing Joy? I think it is. I think it will take being called “one of those people” in regards to more than just an attention to details in a book; perhaps a passion and attention to playing out the details of what it means to be Christ represented in the world today. I want to be called one of THOSE people.