Contagion

I had a conversation with a fellow pastor today and he read a book where the author was asked a question by a friend,"If I never choose to follow your Jesus, will you still be my friend?" Yikes. I'm still not sure what I think of that statement. I don't have any answers, just questions, so don't freak out.

I do know a few things (well, maybe only one). When I chose to follow Jesus, my life became about something other than myself. I had a mission: connecting the disconnected to Him. What I'm not sure about is if I can ever disconnect myself from that mission. If a friend says that they won't believe in my Jesus, that's fine. I won't pressure them or even talk about them. But when my life stops being contagious in a way that they can see that something is different about me, I think I may have lost sight of my mission. I will still be his friend, but I can't disconnect myself from the mission that I am on. I will still have to be living an intentionally provocative life that points to Jesus so my friend can know the freedom that I have. If I had the cure to cancer would I want my friend with cancer to have it? Would you?

So I guess my answer to that question is, yes. I will still be his friend. And I have to have enough faith that by contagiously living my whole life for Jesus a firestorm of questions will be ignited that cause him to search for the answers. And I have to have enough faith in God that he can provide those answers.