Jesus Probably Would Have Shopped At Thrift Stores

i came across this wonderful little essay earlier tonight. i can't get it out of my head. 


"I’m not sure that any of us would find Jesus all that cool. I think most of us would have liked him, and even loved him.  But as far as judging him by the standard of ‘cool’ that we’re so familiar with even as a Christian: He probably would fall short.
 
He wouldn’t fit in with the partiers, the jocks, the rebels. At the same time, I’m not sure he would have even fit in with the geeks.  I doubt ‘fitting in’ had anything to do with what Jesus was concerned with.  ‘Coolness’ is a strange thing, because even though we can make assumptions and guess where we may lie on the scale, we don’t get to choose where we fall.  Everyone else decides how cool we are.  But, we do get to influence their decisions.  What we wear, how we talk, how much we talk, and what we’re involved in all come in to play to make others think that we belong. In order to be cool we need to build ourselves up and put forth the effort to earn it.

But then you have Jesus, who ignored all that and was all about building up others.  All of his assurance came from God.  So, because man’s approval meant nothing and God’s meant everything, Jesus spent his life displaying His love for people. He lived his days assuring the poor that they were worth something.  He spent time actively seeking provisions for widows and orphans. Performing healings on the sick.  None of these are acts for gaining popularity. He obviously gained popularity among the people he interacted with, but the drive behind these actions was purely love-based.

Too often, Christians run around trying to fit in with certain social groups because we believe that if they can accept us, maybe we can penetrate them from within.  That way a non-believer won’t know what hit them from our sneak-attack! We think that maybe the ticket to having the drug dealer listen to us is to grow our long hair, wear loose clothes and gain the ability to sit in basements for hours on end talking about the meaning of string.

But if this is true, where in the Bible does it talk about Jesus changing outfits and characters between towns? When does he pick up his staff so herders might talk to him?  Tear his clothes and starve so that he can blend in and gain the hearts of panhandlers? I doubt Jesus bought purple robes and learned elegant language so that the rich might be more willing to follow him.

No, Jesus just loved the people.  He accepted them as they were and encouraged them. Jesus loves His people and pursues us regardless of what clique we can acceptably step into. (Other than being one with God), Jesus was different because he didn’t try to prove that he had the characteristics worthy of others’ acceptance. It didn’t matter and still doesn’t, because true Christ following never coincided with popularity.
I’ve said many times, “I don’t want to be that suspender-wearing Christian that everyone finds annoying and wants to beat up.” Yet, if we’re too anxious to try and fit in all the time, we forget that Christianity doesn’t really fit in to any of these groups. It’s just our ever-failing attempt to fit in with Jesus."

find more inspiration here.
original essay here.