It's difficult to explain how I excited I was. I had taken the entire day off the occasion, just so I could commit the time needed to properly enjoy the new experience. As silly as it might sound, it was something I had looked forward to for more than a month, and it was something that I would enjoy for weeks and months to come. It was fantastic, and in that moment, as I unwrapped my treasure and began to enjoy its goodness, I couldn't help but think:

MLB 10 'The Show' is the greatest game ever made.

Now, let's forget for a moment the insanity of a 26 year old with a mortgage, two dogs, a wife and a career playing video games on a consistent basis. Instead, let's focus on the following two facts:

- I do not own a Playstation 3. Therefore, this 'greatest game ever' was on an outdated system, the Playstation 2;

- I do, however, own MLB 09 'The Show.' It's the exact game, just from a different year. For the life of me, except for the new players, there is zero different between the 09 and 10 versions of the game.

However, the above facts did little to stop me from being excited... for roughly three hours. After that? The game settled in to the same routine all video games do for me - they're fun, relaxing diversions from real life. It wasn't earth shattering or life changing; it was something I'd enjoyed a million times before.

I was reminded of my foolish hyperbole this week when I read the following Tweet, posted by one of my favorite bands on the planet, the always genius Farewell Flight:

Everybody hurry out and buy the new iPhone! It'll make you happier!! The more stuff you own, the more fulfilling it is!!! More everything!!! [8:16 PM, Jun 24]

It's amazing how ridiculous we, as human beings can be. We all know that stuff doesn't make us happy, that money doesn't fulfill our lives, and that the 'newest' and 'best' only lasts until the next 'newest' and 'best' thing comes out. And yet, as soon as something is put in front of us, whether it's a new car or new band or new video game or new phone or new whatever, we do backflips trying to get our grubby little paws on it.

I guess the lesson is simple - you can learn a lesson a million times over. After all, as my above anecdote illustrates, I'm not immune to this foolishness. And yet, I've read the book of Ecclesiastes I don't know how many times, and in it, one of the wisest men in the history of the world wrote,

History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. - Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

Nothing is new - not even the lessons that we learn. Our lives will be one day after another of falling down and getting back up, and of boldly proclaiming 'I"ll never do that again!' But we will. And that's fine - that's life. That's just why we need grace, and we need mercy.

It's a good thing, then, that through knowing Jesus Christ, we receive both. And that, friends, is exciting, no matter how many times we hear it.

I can see it now: the year is 2310, and some researcher will unearth an old episode of Family Guy called 'I Dream of Jesus.' After watching the episode, in which Jesus returns to earth to work in a record store, dates the Olson twins, and is arrested for disorderly conduct after shouting 'The Jews are responsible for all the world's wars,' the expert will determine that hundreds of years ago, there were followers of Jesus who actually believed that Jesus worked in a record store and was arrested. At that point, there will be a major debate in the church as to who the 'real' Jesus was and why we should reject Seth McFarlane's 'heresy' about Christ. Preachers will speak out against watching this old show, books will be written by Christians speaking out against them and some guy name Donald Brewer will make a movie about how the church has suppressed the truth for all these years that Jesus worked in a record store and that 'early' believers knew this before the church sqaushed it.

I'm already excited.

As ridiculous as this scenario seems to a lot of people, I can see it happening. That is, unless by then the church has woken up to what Christianity is all about. See, in my fourteen years as a Christian, I've seen more time, effort and resources invested to arguing with non-believers than I ever have in real, biblical evangelism and apologetics. What I mean is this: bring up abortion or evolution or homosexuality or the 'lost' books of the bible and you'll see your average Christian ready for a fight. They'll have no problem 'proclaiming the truth' then, and they won't back down from their beliefs at that point. 

But if you ask those same believers who Jesus Christ is, to them? How he's changed their lives? What he means to them on Monday through Saturday? You may not hear much at all.

This past Sunday, we talked about the 'spirit of the anti-Christ' that John spoke about in his letter to the church, and we discovered that while what we struggle with in 2010 is probably not at all what they struggled with in 90 AD, the solution is the same for us as it was then: focus on who Jesus is and lean on God's spirit. In other words, secondary issues are just that - secondary. And when we focus on who we know Jesus, as outlined in scripture, really is, and we begin to pattern our lives after his, God will change us from the inside out.

The point is this: Christianity is, primarily and at its core, about Jesus. It's not about perfect doctrine, having all the answers, or passing a test, and it's not about following rules so perfectly that we never make mistakes. It's about trusting in Jesus, and showing other people the love, compassion, grace, and mercy that he showed in his life. Good works and doctrine are just that - good - but when they replace an honest and real relationship with Jesus, they're anything but.

I hope and pray that three hundred years from now, the church has grown up, and they understand that a life of passionately pursuing Jesus is more powerful than any criticism we can levy against the lives of non-believers. It's not our job to tackle every issue that exists in the world we live in; it's our job to love God and other people, following in Christ's footsteps.

And when we do that? We don't need to argue ever again.

Rich. Poor. Good. Bad. American. Foreigner. Black. White. Sinner. Saint. Young. Old. Rural. Urban. Democrat. Republican. Cool. Nerd. Worthy. Unworthy. Hard Working. Lazy. Unemployed. Employed. Talented. Ordinary. Vengeful. Forgiving. Loving. Hateful. Useful. Useless. Enslaved. Free.

There are countless ways to evaluate people. Each and every day, we look at others, and when we do, we see labels. We see the summation of choices, the results of circumstances, and we find ways to evaluate whether or not we want to be friends or enemies or something in between. And the church is no different: we see people as Catholic or Lutheran, charismatic or reserved, conservative or liberal, denominational or independent, faithful to church or kind of on the fence. This is normal, logical, and reasonable.

And it's incredibly shortsighted.

In the first century, when the church was new and Jesus' followers knew one way or another if this whole 'God dies for man and raises from the dead' thing was true, a church leader named Paul wrote a letter to a congregation in a town called Corinth. In it, he encouraged the people to think of the future, beyond this life. He asked them to consider that this life is temporary, that what we see will pass away, and that where we're going is a real, tangible place where we'll spend eternity. And in that place is God, the creator of the universe and the one who wants us to live for him.

And then, he said this:

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. - 2 Corinthians 5:11

In other words, because we know that this life is but a part of the reality that is existence, we should be compelled to share what we know with other people. And here's what we know:

Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Jesus died for everyone. Not some people, not the people you think are worthy, and not the people that seem to be 'good.' Everyone. And that means everyone has a chance at the future that Christians share - everyone has a shot at a fresh start, and a new birth and a bright future.

When we look at people the way we typically do, we're hindered by the here and now. We see only what has happened or is happening, and we're limited in how we understand who or what someone is. What that doesn't take into consideration is God's opinion of someone, and what HE can do when he gets ahold of someone's heart and mind.

All of this is my way of answering a simple question: 'how do we share our faith with other people?' I've thought that over the last couple weeks, and truth be told, I've tried to write this blog several times. And yet, every time I came up with a principle or bit of wisdom, I realized just how limited what I was saying was. And that's because I left God out of it.

The fact is this: it is our responsibility to treat each and every person with dignity, respect and love, whether we're discussing faith or something much more trivial. Sometimes, talking about Jesus is easy, and sometimes it's hard. Sometimes people accept what we have to say quickly, and other times, it takes a long time or never happens at all. But when we see people as God does, and when we consider the reality of eternity, we realize that our conversations are entirely bigger than simply a few minutes here and there as we talk to our friends and families. God uses the simplest moments to convey profound truth to others, and he does so, often when we aren't even trying.

That's why it's important to see people the way Paul tells us. He wrote,

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

The point is this: other people are just as important as you are. And that means you should share your faith with others the way you'd want others to share their faith with you - compassionately, with understanding, and with grace, focusing on Christ and his perfection, not our imperfect perspectives.

But more than anything, we have to remember that in God's eyes there are really only two categories: new, and not yet. It's not about a church or a formula or any other method of evaluation. It's simply about whether or not Jesus has taken hold.

And when we focus on that? All the other labels fade away.