⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable.
                                                                        -Luke 18:9
 
Yesterday we talked about how you likely know a self-righteous religious person (and if you don’t, that person might be you!). This is a very easy trap to fall into. 
 
Chances are you also know some anti-religious people in your life. And for the anti-religious people in your life, the self-righteous religious people are maddening. The ways that they behave feed into their disdain and dislike for faith, communities of faith, and people of faith.
 
So today, we want to encourage you to think about the person(s) that you know who don’t want anything to do with religious people.
 
And today instead of getting defensive (inside your own head or in actual conversation with them) we want you to look for an opportunity to celebrate with them the good news that they have a whole lot in common with Jesus. Jesus didn’t get along with self-righteous religious people, either.
 
Your anti-religious friends have more in common with Jesus than they realize. That’s worth celebrating. And next time they share with you about how Christians drive them crazy, be sure to tell them that good news.
 
Here’s what that might sound like: “Christians drive you crazy? Totally get it, the religious people drove Jesus crazy, too—that’s who he fought with the most! You and Jesus are probably a lot alike in what kinds of things drive you both crazy. That’s why what Jesus came to do was so much better than normal religion.”
 
Pray today for someone in your life who is anti-religion, especially if you know they have some sort of baggage with religious people. Spend some time celebrating in your prayer that they have that in common with Jesus! Pray that in the next few days the Holy Spirit might open up a conversation where you might be able to communicate that to them.  Pray for that to open up a more substantive conversation about what real faith looks like.