I think that as Christians we tend to believe that if we are really nice people and always happy, that people will know that we are Christians and will want to pursue a relationship with Christ.   However, that is just not true. I know quite a number of the nicest people I know and they do not have a relationship with Jesus.  In fact, they are nicer than quite a number of Christians that I know.

However, if you really want to know how the world is to know who it is that is truly living out a relationship with Christ, open up your Bible and check out Luke 6: 32-36.  Jesus makes it pretty plain and simple right there.

To also help make my point, I came across a rather poignant excerpt from The Magnificent Defeat by Frederick Buechner that I want to share on the four types of love:

The love for equals is a human thing – of friends for friends, brother for brother.  It is love for what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing – the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing – to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy at those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich.  The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy – love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.

The later was Christ’s outlook while mounted on the cross wearing a crown of thorns and watching some soldiers gamble at his feet for his garments. As His followers, He asks nothing less than that from us.

Special thanks to Francis Chan for putting all of this into perspective (Crazy Love).