Our lifestyle of loving

RYAN’s BOSS thinks he is an ideal worker-doesn't join labor unions, is efficient, doesn't go for "happy hour" with the guys. He says of Ryan: "He's a bahay-opisina, opisina-bahay kind of guy; napakabait." The mother of 12-year-old Josh sighs in disappointment over her son's lukewarm attitude towards going to Mass on Sundays. "He never missed Sunday Mass when he was a little boy; I don't understand why I have to drag him to church now that he's grown." Edelyn is overjoyed to proclaim to everyone that she has "accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior" but does not notice that not one of her friends accepts her invitation to join her in their prayer meetings.

What Ryan's boss does not know is that Ryan is viewed as "weird" by his fellow workers-no one really wants him around during "happy hour" because Ryan makes them feel he's too good for them. He only wants the friendship of his brethren in his religion; not the company of those pathetic people outside the "kapatiran." Josh's mother doesn't see what the budding teenager sees: the habitual bickering at home, the power play between his mother and his father who never seem to agree on anything. Edelyn cannot understand her friends' lack of interest in the prayer meetings because she is drunk with the "good feelings God gives His children."

Ryan has to realize that being a disciple of Christ means more than just having a squeaky-clean image-he must be brotherly, too, to those outside of his "brotherhood". Josh's mother stands to learn sooner or later that following Christ demands much more than a weekly display of piety. Edelyn must realize, too, that her complacency in feeling "saved" and favored by God could stunt her growth as a new Christian. The world cannot see the Christ we believe in, but it can have a change of heart if it sees Christ in our lifestyle of loving.