The Moment We Try To Convince Someone We Have Lost The Plot

​According to the Pew Research Center, in 2018-2019, 65% of Americans called themselves Christians. This was down from 77% just a decade earlier.

Additionally, the number of people who identified themselves as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular" stood at 26% - up from 17% in 2009.

As a Christian, I find this concerning. Not because other people aren't following my faith, but because to me, it's a sign that we Christians aren't following our faith.

I think my fellow Christians and I have seen and felt these numbers dropping. We've seen it in our churches and in our bible studies. In our family and friends and co-workers and neighbors. We've seen them dropping in conversations and on social media.

And the Christian response - part out of panic - a lot out of ego - has been to double down on convincing.

We've gotten louder with our arguments for Christianity and against everything else. We've doubled down on embracing politics and special interest groups that echo our arguments. We've doubled down on screaming our bible verses to others instead of letting them whisper to ourselves.

Somewhere along the way, we've lost sight of the truth that Jesus didn't come into our world to win any arguments - he came into the world to out-love any argument we had against him. The Jesus story wasn't a story designed to convince us that love was the answer, it was a story that loved us in a way that left us feeling like there couldn't possibly be another answer.

That is STILL the plot of that story.

Joshua Fields Millburn says:

"Each time we advise someone,
it may feel like it's arising from a place of love,
but it's actually the ego saying
I know what's best for you.

The implication of which is disconcerting:
I am right, you are wrong,
and if you subordinate yourself to me,
I will fix you.

How is this loving?"

The answer is, Mr. Millburn, it's not loving.

You know, I do believe Jesus came to this earth to "fix" us. And - I believe he knew that many of us would inherit his heart for helping - he knew he wouldn't be the last one on earth to have a passion for "fixing" people.

That's why Jesus spent so much time demonstrating the cure.

That's why he spent so much time revealing to us that what people need isn't advice - they need loved.

That's why Jesus spent so much time entering the struggles of others and not screaming advice from a distance as to what they needed to do to fix themselves.

If Jesus were to give us Christians any advice today, I think it would be this:

I think he'd tell us we need to get back to the plot of quietly entering people's lives and loving them in a way that leaves them with no doubt that they are loved, and ditch our efforts of standing on the outskirts of their lives loudly trying to convince them they are.