When I was a kid around the age of six or seven, I had this red construction paper heart with a hole punched in it near the top and a picture of Jesus glued into the center of it. I can’t really remember where I got the heart, but I loved that thing. Under the image of Christ was the phrase, “Jesus lives in my heart” spelled out in permanent marker, and running through the hole was a little piece of tied-together yarn so I could hang the heart up in my room…and even though I had no idea what the phrase meant, that’s just what I did.
That heart, with what looked like Jesus’ high school graduation photo attached to it, hung from my bedroom curtain rod for years. So much time passed, in fact, that the construction paper turned a translucent shade of pink by the time I finally retired it to my NFL 49ers folder. It joined my other noteworthy childhood papers, like the second grade spelling contest participation ribbon I “won,” and the Snoopy valentine I got from my classmate Olivia when we were both nine years-old and very much in love.
Other than the superstitious good feeling I got from hanging that heart by my window, the one thing I vividly remember is never hearing anything about the picture of Jesus itself. What I mean is nobody ever commented on the fact that the shot (selfie, even?) of Christ was of a blue-eyed, light-brown-haired white guy in a taupe-colored bedspread. Growing up, I assumed this is exactly what Jesus looked like, and nobody ever really gave me any reason to believe otherwise. He had a beard, he enjoyed looking serious, and he was the same ethnicity as me—caucasian.
But that’s not true! I mean, yes, Jesus most likely had a beard (see Isaiah 50:6; also the fact that he was described as an ordinary looking guy, meaning he would’ve blended in with other northwestern Semitic people, most of whom had beards), but white he’s not.
This and other common misconceptions about Christ bleed over into how Christians choose to communicate to others about who He actually is. I (as a white person) have been guilty of framing Jesus in a way that would only be relevant to other white people – and this is not okay. Perhaps you have been guilty of this too, regardless of your ethnicity. The truth is that the gospel is totally relevant to any and every culture that exists on this planet because Jesus came to die for all of humanity, not just your specific group.
As you process this, you will begin to discover that it should have a drastic influence on how you talk about God with all people.
And this doesn’t just apply to race. Whether you are communicating with athletes, movie stars, military personnel, high school students, theater majors, or comic book fans, each “affinity group” requires very different ways of making sure they understand the message.
Because I have a basic understanding of what my best buddies enjoy and would like to talk about, I would never expect them to engage with me in a deep conversation concerning various brands of fingernail polish. Likewise, I need to be sensitive to the fact that certain people may not respond favorably to a fifteen minute, four-point outline describing the message of Christianity. Being others-centered, and not self-centered, is the key to helping any person have a clearer understanding of the good news of God’s love for all people.
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