He was a good-natured bloke who got on well with all and sundry.  He lightened up the room during coffee breaks with his jovial sense of good humour.  If something needed doing around the place he was quick to volunteer.  I would say that he was a good role-model.  However, I often found myself wondering: Where is this guy at when it comes to God?

The other morning I decided there was something to be said for tackling him head-on.  So I asked him point-blank, “So Fred, why aren’t you a Christian?”  I figured one possibility would be that he’d protest my assumption of his unbelief.  He didn’t.  The other possibility was to give me a string of excuses for not being a believer.  He didn’t do that either.

The answer he gave was one I had not anticipated: “John, I try to be a Christian.”  “Beeeeep...!  Wrong answer...!”  He gave me a strange look and then raised his eyebrows and waited for me to explain why I had invalidated his response.  I told him that trying to be a Christian isn’t really a valid option.  You either are a Christian or you’re not a Christian.  Although, I do remember Jesus once saying of someone that they were not far from the Kingdom.

Fred felt he needed to convince me that he really was working at it so he began to tell me that compared to lots of other people he really felt he was measuring up rather well.  For a second time I had to tell him that he had it all wrong.  Christianity is not about scoring “Brownie Points” with God; it’s about believing that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.”  You either believe that or you don’t.

Fred had to think about that for a moment.  It seemed that what I had said did register with him at a certain level but that’s when Fred decided he needed to fess up and tell me why he wasn’t a Christian.

It seems that Fred had a relative who had once “done the dirty” on his family.  There was a family heirloom that was supposed to have gone to Fred’s wife.  However... this relative had, by devious means, arranged for the family heirloom to finish up in his possession.  Well, I figured that wasn’t such an unusual story – I’ve heard many stories over the years of relationships that have soured over family bequests going pear-shaped.

This was obviously a hot subject in the family because Fred was getting quite emotional about it.  While I was still wondering how a family heirloom could be a barrier to Christianity, Fred was talking about some church office-bearer out in the sticks.  The story had gotten a little convoluted but the gist of it seemed to be that the fellow who misappropriated the family heirloom not only claimed to be a Christian but had served a spell as pastor in a small bush church for some years.

I suddenly got the picture.  I recall someone once saying to me: “John you won’t understand how bad it is to be wronged until you’ve been wronged by a fellow Christian!”  There’s truth in that.  We expect better from people who claim to belong to Jesus, body and soul, in life and in death.  When they deviously misappropriate a family heirloom then their walk doesn’t match their talk.  And when someone who is not a believer is cheated by someone who is, then I can see that this easily becomes a stumbling block to faith.

Being a stumbling block is no light matter.  Jesus once made a remark about it being better to be dropped into the ocean with a rock tied around your neck than to cause offence to vulnerable people.  Jesus spoke about that in the context of little children but maybe it also applies to those who are “little children” faith-wise.

I had to remind myself that, of course, I had only heard Fred’s side of the story, no matter how plausible it seemed.  Still, I conceded to Fred that I could sympathise with his problem.  I was reluctant to point out that Christians are not perfect, just forgiven – that may have sounded too much like one Christian defending another Christian for doing the wrong thing.  I pray there will be a few more conversations with Fred to help him rise above these things and not let them spoil his life... nor his relationship with the Lord.

John Westendorp