The Bad Bubble

I think we Christians -- especially home schoolers -- can be too separated. The little bubble that we live in too often renders us ineffective in reaching the lost for Christ; we lose perspective on how our "witness" is received by others. Christians find comfort in convincing themselves that the lost world is actually coming under conviction by the witness of the Holy Spirit within, and I hope that sometimes that is so. But more often than we care to recognize, we are simply a repellant -- even repulsive; and the two reactions look very different. I pray God will make be sensitive to that difference and that my witness would only ever serve to glorify Him and draw others to the Saviour.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that Christians ought to compromise in any way that would be displeasing to the Lord, but only that we "look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others," as is written in Phillipians Chapter 2. We must be so careful to make sure that our personality, desires, liberties and privileges don't eclipse the Truth.

Here's an example:

Recently, I saw a woman breastfeeding her baby in public. Now, to be clear -- I nursed all three of my children and loved it! It is my favorite thing about those early months with a newborn. I feel very comfortable doing it in some receptive public venues, and have no problem with anyone else doing it either. The problem comes in the form of common courtesy; if the public that we are with isn't comfortable, it is not our job to condition them to be comfortable! It can easily be an antogonistic position propelled by a selfish motivation, and neither claims a place in the Kingdom.

Now, for the sake of argument, let's say that the mother is wearing her witness on her sleeve in the form of one of those hideously-commercial-scripture-message t-shirts? What a horrific testimony that is! So now she's offensive and easily affiliated with Christ. Paul made quite a point of becoming as the people he wanted to witness to, and Jesus -- though He rebuked, corrected, questioned and even once showed His righteous anger -- never antagonized anybody.
Be sure that nobody is suggesting that a baby be left hungry, but for the sake of Christ Jesus, we ought to be willing and careful to protect our ability to be light and salt -- even at a cost. The cost, in this case would have been a short walk to the women's lounge, the car or even the back corner of the public venue. Not a lot to sacrifice for the preservation of one's witness, I think.