One Word that Cripples Christianity

So many words come in and out of the English language. Some fad words are good, others are bad, and still others begin well but acquire negative connotations after they have been used regularly. This latter type can be dangerous, not from the start, but after being merged with our vocabulary and slowly eased way into everyday language before we realize the negative psychological effect. By then, we have the slightest clue how our words, thoughts and actions became what they are.

One of these words has become increasingly common. AWKWARD. I was first introduced to this word by a group of friends through a joke. It was funny, and even had a catchy little hand gesture. I didn't hear it any more, however, until I lived with a couple of girls in Charlotte, who used it very often. That summer was when the pithy joke became a debate within myself of whether or not I wanted to add the word "awkward" to my own language.

Since then, through circumstances, observations, and scripture, I have personally been convicted about the uses of this word. I do not claim to have it all figured out, but I know what I know and this I will share.

Recently, someone told me that they would rather another person not show up to an event because it would be "awkward." I felt a knife penetrate my heart with those words. I don't want to only speak out to that someone, but to all of us who are tempted by similar tendencies. What have modern Christians become that we intentionally shut out opportunities to share time with others because of our selfish attachment to comfortable situations? And have we become so self-absorbed that we develop preconceived notions before entering even mundane circumstances, merely by telling ourselves it might be "awkward?"

Surely, as the beaten, robbed, and abandoned man lay on the side of the road in Luke 10, both the priest and the Levite passed by thinking to themselves that it might seem "awkward" to be seen helping him. Yet, it must not have even crossed the mind of the Good Samaritan's that bandaging a stranger's wounds, putting the man on the Samaritan's own donkey, and staying in an inn to nurse him back to health with not so much as a proper introduction to the man he was helping could ever be an "awkward" situation. And had he thought such a thing, it is doubtful that he said a word about it in respect for the hurting one.

What if the mother of the precious Savior and Redeemer of the world had refused the bear a holy child in such an "awkward" situation? What if marrying Mary had seemed far too "awkward" to Joseph? What if scorn by the world had been so "awkward" for Jesus Christ that he refused to have mercy on the people who were scoffing him and would be mocking him through the decades until the time we now live in?

And now, do we shut others out of our lives merely because we are afraid they will make the rest of us uncomfortable?

Situations ARE awkward. Media makes their living off of comedic awkward irony. Not to say that it is wrong to watch such shows or read such commentary, but who are we to brush off those real-life situations as a weird happenstance, when the truth is that God Almighty could see them as priceless opportunities? The word "awkward" is not the problem, but the attitude that has been associated with it is crippling Christianity itself. We have backed down, backed away, and backed off because society says some circumstances may be harder to deal with than others and we aren't confident that we are ready to deal with them at all. To be desensitized so intensely that it decreases how many people we are able to reach as Believers is the saddest idea of all humanity.