Image

Today we are obsessed with our "image." From our country (being concerned about our global image) to our communities, everyone wants a "good" image." The Church is suffering from a complex that seems to desire people to see and think of Christians" in a positive light. While this is normal and generally a good thing, it has caused this self deprecation of everything we did in our historical past along with the excesses of a few in the present. May I suggest that this focus on "image" leads us down a path we do not want to go. Take the early Church, it had not history and yet it was given the name "Christians" first at Antioch. This was a negative derisive name (which means they had a very negative image, so negative that they were imprisoned and killed because of the identification). Why did their culture view them as negative? What did they do that was so horrible and evil that they deserved this kind of bashing? The answer is of course they aligned themselves with Christ who threatened the power and control freaks of his day. He wanted nothing more than to bring grace and love and proved that by his lifestyle. So my question is - where those first "Christians" concerned about what people thought, or were they defined by who they were and how they lived. What is needed more today, Christians who everyone applauds as having a good image or people who are so focused on Christ, they die to self and live?