Articles
Reaching Instead of Pushing
“I know a soul who is lost, but I’m afraid that trying to teach him about
Jesus will just push him away.”
This may be the single greatest fear that cripples evangelism in the
lives of Christians. Sometimes this fear is reasonable because of the
non-Christian’s personality flaws: perhaps he is too haughty to be
humble, too content to see contradiction, too elitist to admit error, or
too connected to make changes. Sometimes this fear is reasonable
because of the Christian’s personality flaws: perhaps he is more of a
teller than a teacher, more insulting than instructive, or more com-
bative than compassionate.
We cannot control the personalities or decisions of our friends & fami-
ly, but we can control how we conduct ourselves. Knowing the truth is
necessary, but reaching lost souls involves more than spouting facts
& instructions. There was a reason that Paul became a Jew to the
Jew, as under the law to those under the law, as without law to them
that were unfamiliar with Moses’ law, & weak to the weak (1 Corinthi-
ans 9:19-21): winning a soul requires connecting with that soul. If we
truly wish to reach for our lost friends, let’s start by working on our-
selves, doing what we can to become “all things to all men,” so that
we “might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
Start respectfully. Peter advised Christians to be always ready to
give an answer “with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15), that is, with
humility & respect: not only ready with the right answer, but with the
right attitude! Let’s approach our friends like we would want to be ap-
proached (Matthew 7:12). “A man hath joy by the answer of his
mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” (Proverbs
15:23).
