I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who is studying to enter the ministry. He mentioned a question that they had had posed to them in their course. For their assignment they had to try and convert someone without using the Bible. The idea was that you can never convince someone to accept the Bible by using the Bible.
Which makes sense I suppose.
But how do you do that? How do you convince someone of the truth of Christ’s saving grace, and his God-ship, without using scripture.
Well, you have to sell him something else.
You have to sell yourself.
Think of it this way. I can tell you that cheese tastes good, but you will never know what it tastes like until you try it. So you have to be convinced of it’s taste.
So I tell you it tastes good, that it will meet all your needs, and you will be refreshed eating it. But if you don’t believe me; If you think it is poison, or that it is terrible, you will never eat it.
So I have to sell you myself first. I have to convince you that I know what tastes good, and that I am not insane, and enjoy eating poison. I have to sell you the idea that I care enough about you to want you to have something that is good for you.
Then - once you buy me, you might be prepared to try what I am selling.
The same I think with evangelism. We can not sell Christ, unless we are also selling ourselves. We need to be seen to be caring, because otherwise why should they believe us. We need to be trustworthy, we need to be loving, we need to be stable. Then, when we say “I know a way that works, let me tell you why it worked for me,” they can rely on our tastes and trustworthiness. They can trust that we know what we are talking about.
If we aren’t building relationships, and living the word we preach, we are selling a product no one will trust.
And that is just wrong.
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This was fantastic. Actually you may have stolen my thunder with a post I was going to write in the same vein but I think you may have done a better job. I'm glad I stopped by!
ReplyDeleteOh my. This is probably the best blogpost I've read in well, forever-ish.
ReplyDeleteI spent years TELLING people how they needed to live. And in doing that, I alienated most of my loved ones and was pretty miserable.
After my brother died, I kind of figured out that I was doing it all wrong. Instead of love and grace and compassion, I was forcing Bible verses and judgment on everyone. I definitely gave Christianity a bad name.
My new motto is Luke 10:27. I've had more people ask me about my faith since I've started living this verse out than in all my years of telling others what to do. My parents and other brothers are now growing in Christ like craaaaazy and God is completely turning my life upside down. I love it!
Great post Sharkie!
We are His ambassadors after all. I remember hearing someone use fruit to describe us. They asked what would happen if someone ate our fruit. Would it be bitter or sweet?
ReplyDeleteOSG - My original post used the illustration of eating an apple, not cheese. But the cartoon was too cute to resist, so I changed it slightly.
ReplyDelete:-)
Right on. This is the reason -- well, one of them -- that christians get a bad name. Too much preaching/lecturing/soapboxing and not enough quiet action.
ReplyDeleteJust read this quote on a blog and it seemed applicable to this post:
“What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.” ~Martin Luther