Wouldn't It Be Nice...?

I had a thought hit me at random while driving home the other night. 

(And yes, it happens fairly often, so no, it wasn't lonely in my head, thank you very much. Smartass.)

Wouldn't it be nice if ... Christians were recognized and known as those really loving people who had some strange ideas about their beliefs? 

Wouldn't it be nice if ... Christians were seen by the world as that group of genuinely helpful and caring people who could be forgiven for believing their had the corner on Truth because their compassionate actions outweighed their talk?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... churches bailed out the government's welfare programs, and took the lead in taking care of the widows, orphans, jobless?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... the religious folks who get political about it sang the praises of the helpless poor who endure day to day and still persevere rather than those of the mighty who have "made something of themselves" by being self-reliant -- the opposite of accepting grace and then giving it because it was offered to you?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... every person who spoke out against homosexuality had at least one gay true friend that he or she hugged and spoke to on a regular basis so the humanity could outshine the activity?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... my HIV-positive friends didn't have to thank me for actually shaking their hands and hugging them, as if that's something out of the ordinary?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... I and my fellow Christ-followers entered the world/culture/etc. with faith and friendship rather than avoiding in fear that we might be tainted by simply setting foot inside a place that is still being redeemed?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... I and my fellow Christ-followers fully realized the truth that we are no better than this world/culture/etc. we hide from inside our subcultures because while we are redeemed, we are still being fighting the same fights and wearing the same dirty clothes as the rest of the world?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... we Christians finally got our supernatural erasers out and once and for all obliterated that imaginary line we've created that separates the natural from the spiritual, the sacred from the profane, the lost from the saved, and let God deal with that while we go about our "as you go" lives loving people, helping people, and introducing them to live more abundant?

Wouldn't it be nice if ... those same Christ-followers could still stand against sin and call people to repent from it, but in such a way that those people felt loved and respected instead of condemned?