An insightful thought...brought to you by 90210

First of all, I admit I have been watching old reruns of Beverly Hills, 90210 on the SOAP network. I used to watch this when I was younger (it's great for children, I know) and when it recorded as a suggestion on my TiVo, I decided to revisit the old show. I actually still like it! And of course I only remember tiny tid-bits, so it's almost like watching it for the first time. And I'm getting a huge kick out of the early 90's styles. Also...why are all the girls ghostly pale if they live in Beverly Hills? Maybe tans weren't cool until the past decade or so.

ANYWAY, today I was watching it and actually had a thought relevant to my Christian walk. Crazy, right? So, I'm here to share it with my bloggy friends! :)

The episode was about safe sex and Andrea was heading up a program to educate the high school students about birth control and STDs. She really dove head first into the project. She wanted everyone to join her mission. She started confronting all her friends, and even complete strangers. She put together informative pamphlets to hand out on the streets. Some of her friends were getting annoyed with her high and mighty attitude, and her insistence to do things that made them uncomfortable, like the pamphlets or having her friends write their sexual experiences and problems down for the school newspaper. One of the guys, Brandon, confronts her about it. He says, "The only people that will respond to these in-your-face methods are people who are already on your side." 


And that made me think...how much can we be like this in our mission to save the world and share the truth of the Gospel? I certainly do not think we should sit back and let people sink or swim. And I don't think we should "water down" the Gospel and make it more "world friendly" either. But what are our methods? How are we reaching the world? Is it by constantly confronting people, recommending songs and books they aren't interested in, handing them brochures they'll never read, inviting them to a church they'll never venture to on their own, quoting scripture they don't believe in anyway? Just how effective is that? It's likely the only people who will respond to these tactics are the people who are already saved. The people who already listen to Christian music, read Christian books, know and believe in the Gospel, attend church, and read the Bible. All the lost people...well, you're likely to just turn them away. Just like Andrea on the show.

So, maybe we should be investing more of our time in PEOPLE, RELATIONSHIPS, and showing the love of God through our ACTIONS and genuine TESTIMONIES and not by shoving Jesus propaganda down the throats of the lost. If that's our only tactic, it's no wonder so many of them don't like us at all.

Just a thought! I'd love to hear if you agree, disagree, or think I should be spending more time sharing the Gospel and less time watching crappy daytime TV... Well, that last one probably goes without saying!

~Christy~