Jesus is a Very Popular Guy

I began a job working in a super market about three years ago.

The reasons I did it were complex and varied but my approach to the job was simple: I was determined, from day one, to live according the commands and teachings Jesus as literally and as faithfully as possible. 

In my mind, central to that Jesus-following lifestyle was to continually live in repentance which, to me, by that time, and still, means to live in self-denial in every moment, to always show mercy, to, in the presence of difficult customers and coworkers and managers, always to turn the other cheek and walk the second mile, to, when dealing with those people, let vengeance be the Lord's, to always rejoice in the Lord, think about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable, to love my neighbor as myself and to love disciples as Jesus loved the apostles when He washed their feet. It has, at its core, to be a slave to everyone, without exception.

And, looking back over the years, I have to claim, in all honesty, that, actually, I've succeeded in being Jesus fairly well, better than I would have expected, though, certainly, not perfectly.

(I do have to note that there is a self-sustaining momentum to being Jesus as I have been.  I did it well at the beginning so that other people came to expect it so that, now, their expectation guides me and makes it easier to choose the Jesus way when the real me might win out in a particular moment...)

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...Anyway,

I have never been so popular!

And, perhaps not surprisingly, I'm especially well-liked by difficult people many of whom seem to be drawn to me, and are not really difficult around me.

And, interestingly, by the millennials and people younger than they whom, I think, are fascinated to meet a geezer who looks older than grandpa, but isn't grandpa, and treats them as if he is their slave.

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So...I want to say that the lesson I've taken from my years in ministry on my mission field is that there's no reason for people to be standoffish toward church people, as many are these days...

...if church people actually are disciples, men and women who obey Jesus...

...and if they live in the world...

...the people of the world will be fascinated by them, even confused by them, but in the end, warm up to them, even like and love them.

JESUS IS A VERY POPULAR GUY. PEOPLE LOVE HIM. THEY'VE ALWAYS BEEN DRAWN TO HIM, NOT PUT OFF BY HIM. 

And, even I have experienced a highly diluted form of that phenomenon.

Imagine how it could work for other, more likeable people.

Church people must repent.