Don’t Write Him Off
I’m certainly guilty of it. I imagine most of you are, too. We see a person, and make a snap judgment. “They must be _________.” (fill in the blank.) It doesn’t matter what the snap judgment is, it matters because we just made it. We broke one of the cardinal-cliché-rules… we judged a book by its cover. Sure, sometimes our assumptions are correct. Other times, maybe most of the time, we are dead wrong. In the evangelization world, being dead wrong can cost people their souls.
Back in the day, I’m certain that people judged my cover properly… there wasn’t much of a secret that I was the least likely candidate for anyone to invest in, but thankfully, they went beyond my cover and saw the potential on the inside. My “book cover” screamed of anti-Catholic sentiment, with a splash of rage, a hefty dose of pride, a heaping handful of aggression, an overflowing cup of womanizing, and a host of other horrible traits. And that was just what was on the surface that people could see! I was pretty far gone, yet people saw enough hope in the risen Lord that He could get to me, and He did. I am forever grateful to the people who didn’t give up on me, and want to urge you to remember that you can’t simply write a man off because he appears a certain way, or even acts a certain way.
This man was actually a pastor of a church, disguised as a homeless man who showed up for church one day.
Who might I be talking about? Men who are overly rich, men who are overly poor. Men who are into heavy rock, or into gangster rap. It might be men who spend copious amounts of time in the gym, or at the firing range, or in the garage, or at the clubs. How about men who use four letter words every third word? It might be men who’ve never graced the doors of a church, or the man sitting in the pew behind you in Mass every week. Men with kids, men without. Men who smoke, men who drink. Men with tattoos, men with scars. Men who wear boots, men who carry guns. Men who drive sports cars, or jacked up trucks, or an old jalopy. My point… it doesn’t matter – each man has the same calling to TrueManhood.
St. Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, Knocked off his horse
As with everything, we should look to Christ. Who did He invest in? Jesus spent time, and befriended, some of the worst dudes around. He knew what He was doing, and look what those men did! Take the various fishermen, or the tax-collector, or even the worst persecutor of Christians of the time. Jesus went after them, conquered their hearts, and commissioned them to go out and make disciples of all nations. These ruffians, thugs, scallywags, and barbarians became the greatest evangelists of all time. Thank the Lord that He didn’t write them off!
So here’s an action-challenge: assess your scope of influence, determining the men in that scope, whether family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, strangers, etc. and make a list of any/all men that you’ve written off. By writing them off, you’ve missed opportunities to talk to them, to learn about them (or learn from them), to ask them questions, to give them the benefit of the doubt, etc. By writing them off, you’ve also destroyed the opportunity to serve them, love them, and to call them to something higher in life. Take this list – whether it be 1 man or 20 – and begin to pray for each man by name. In your prayer, ask God to guide your interactions (especially the next one) and to give you the strength to say or do what is right. You may be the only opportunity that man has to learn about Jesus Christ, the TrueMan. And you never know, he may be the next great evangelist that the world needs.
When my college friends chose not to write me off, it allowed a seed to blossom into many fruitful things. Had they written me off, and not seen the potential in me, only God knows where I would have been. I’m sure it wouldn’t be good, and I’m sure that many of the bad decisions I was making would have been amplified and continued. Thankfully, my conversion towards Christ changed me, brought me back into His Universal Church, led me to my wife and our four beautiful children. Thankfully, my conversion led to these years of service in ministry – hopefully doing the greatest good, of loving people and telling the Good News – and especially this ministry, TrueManhood Men’s Ministry.
Regardless of what a man is “in to”, he is called to holiness, to union with God. God the Father desires to have a relationship with His son. It may take you or me to introduce the son to his Father. Don’t shy away from the opportunities to reach out to even the least likely candidates.
TrueMan up!
The People Only Make Up The Church…
The people only make up the Church, they don’t make it. Truth makes the Church. I have two examples in two days of people missing the boat on what “the Church” is all about. First example: I just watched a video of a pastor who spoke complete blasphemy about what the Church does. He said something like “the church is one of the biggest hindrances to conversion.” Obviously, this pastor is from a church that is wishy-washy and not centered in truth. (It appeared, from the video to be an amphi-theatre style mega-church where laser lights and smoke machines play the role of sacramentals.) His church, most likely, is centered on “whatever feels good” and “whatever it takes to “save” someone”. It’s sad, really. He’s missing the boat.
He told this story about a pastor who was fear-mongoring people into not having sex. The young lady that he took with him (a young, single mother in an extra-marital affair) wasn’t ready to hear that message, so this pastor was essentially blaming the Church for this poorly-delivered message, that most likely was “off” when it comes to sound doctrine. He’s aligning everything that one or more individuals may do with the Church as a whole and totally missing the point. See, Christ set up the Church to spread the Love of the Father, the Truth. He set it up to bring people to the Father, not to push them away from it. We grow closer to God through the Church.
Second example: yesterday, I was talking with a woman who said to me “I was raised Catholic, but I don’t go anymore. Is that bad?, it’s bad, isn’t it? I don’t like going because of all the hypocrisy… I’d see people there on Sunday and then they’d be talking bad about people the rest of the week.” This lady went on and on about it being “bad” that she doesn’t go any more. Then, she said to me “I used to like Fr. S0-and-So because his sermons were good. Once he left, I haven’t been back. Is that bad?” I said to her, the people only make up the Church, they don’t make it. If the people inside the Church are bad, it doesn’t mean that the Church is bad. You should go, give it a try again. It was very obvious to me that this lady doesn’t know what the Eucharist is.
It’s frustrating when people make condemning judgments (especially when they are made out of ignorance) like this that really affect the lives of others. In the first case, the pastor is going to have to answer for his blasphemy and how he led many people astray. The lady is going to have to answer for leading her kids astray, as well as herself. If you are reading this and understand what I’m saying, you realize that it’s a big responsibility to be a servant of the Lord. What are you saying or doing that may lead others closer to Christ? What are you saying or doing that make lead others away from Christ?
Man up!
