When my wife and I were first married we lived in a small, one-bedroom apartment in a section of Minneapolis known as “uptown.” We loved living there, mostly because it was a great place to observe people. We saw uptown as a very eclectic neighborhood full of young people with extremely varied thoughts on life, politics, and God. It could be thought of as a place resembling Athens, Greece in the time of the apostle Paul, where philosophers would gather and debate their views in public forums. In much the same way, it wouldn’t be uncommon to walk into one of the many coffee houses along Hennepin Avenue and overhear someone sharing their ideas on the origin of life and what meaning (or lack thereof) they derived from these ideas. However, in this neighborhood, I sensed an antagonism toward the traditional idea of God that I grew up with. Evidence of this could be seen in the slogans plastered around town on the back of rusty car bumpers and worn out t-shirts. I thought to myself, “how can such an open society be so closed to the love of Jesus? Did He do anything to deserve this reputation?” It didn’t make sense. I’ve been fortunate to have known Jesus for almost the entirety of my nearly 27 years of life, and of all the reactions He has drawn out of me I can safely say that antagonism hasn’t been one of them. I came to a sobering conclusion: this antagonism that I was sensing wasn’t a reaction to Jesus himself, rather it was a reaction to what people have stereotyped Jesus to stand for.....a closed-minded list of do’s and don’ts imposed by middle aged men wearing oversized reading glasses and bad kneck-ties. Bottom line: what people need is a chance to see Jesus for who He really is, Love. I’m challenged to live my life in such a way that people will have the opportunity to see through the stereotypes into the true nature of Christ. I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in all the world constantly drawing people to Jesus, making it plain for people to see who He really is, and drawing them into the family of God. Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet wrote “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). If this is true, than it’s not a matter of if the people in uptown will know Jesus, it’s a matter of when....and when makes all the difference in the world. Am I living my life in such a way that Christ is reflected accurately? Are you?