Attitude Adjustments
Theme of the Week: Warm Welcome or Cool Reception?
Monday, August 31, 2009
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory (Romans 15:7). Bonus Reading: James 2:1, 8-9
As a young pastor in southern California I attracted several products of the Jesus movement into my youth group. One in particular seemed to relish the freedom of the counter-culture. He wore cutoffs and sandals everywhere, even to morning worship, where he sometimes sat next to old-timers who dressed in more churchy clothes. He was emotive and expressive in worship.
Some church members were irritated by him, but most kept their peace, welcomed him into the church, and gave him room to be himself and to adjust to this new environment and outgrow and overcome his immaturity.
After a couple of years he fell in love with a young woman in the church. Eventually he married her and entered the work force as a professional. Not surprisingly, his dress and behavior began to change, reflecting the more conservative tastes of the business community and the congregation.
The old-timers also learned from him, and he contributed significantly to the church's gradual transformation. Everyone came out the better for it. That is because we learned a forbearance that makes room for the trajectory of a spiritual journey—both the other person's and our own.
—Gerald Sittser in Love One Another
Adapted from Love One Another (InterVarsity, 1994, 2008) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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