CHARIS SHALOM

Or maybe we’re not out among people who need to ask. That was me before we came up here. Most of the people I interacted with were already Christians. I was so busy doing church activities, that I never got out into the world.

What has been amazing is to discover how much easier it actually is to answer that question than what I had imagined. I think I had built up in my mind an expectation that people would openly shun me, or recoil when I mentioned my faith.

But that’s not been the case at all. Most people are rather gracious, and very interactive. And I think one of the greatest lies of Satan is that we won’t know exactly what to say. But you know what is cool? God can make the person HEAR exactly what He wants them to hear, even if we stumble over our words.

God is so awesome. His mercy and patience with me is amazing, even when I act like a big scaredy cat. I’m so thankful that our success is dependent on His character and not our ability.

That’s so good, Kiki, I’m going to add it to the main post, just in case others don’t read the comments!

Ouch. The sledgehammer of conviction strikes again!

Thanks for posting this today, Bryan.

[...] Don’t miss this post from Bryan Riley on hope. [...]

Bryan,

A great post and, you’re right, KiKi’s comment was a special way to add/end what you had written.

I can’t tell you what a delight it was to meet you and your entire family last Sunday. Thanks for coming.

When I teach that passage, I always wind up focusing on the gentleness and respect. But that’s a great question. I have to think about the last time someone asked me to tell them.

In the summer, I volunteer for World Changers, a ministry of NAMB that brings volunteers, mostly teenagers and college students, to various locations to fix homes for low income homeowners. The number of people who ask you why you do something like that goes up exponentially in that kind of situation. One of my students who happened to be on the same crew I was on came up and pointed out his observation that he thought this was great, that he had never really been stretched in his faith like this before. He observed that he thought it was great practice for real life situations that came up.

I told him, “this is a real life situation.”

He got it.

Lee, we need to remember the gentleness and respect and be oft reminded of it because it doesn’t come to us naturally; it is a gift of the spirit.

Just last night at a prayer meeting someone brought up an example from a church who realized they had never asked those in their neighborhood how they could serve them–how they could serve their neighbors. They had done some work, but never asked and listened. It was through a concerted effort to do just that that they saw real ministry happen. So, it wasn’t until they interacted with and truly served out of their love for Jesus that anyone asked them for more about their hope and the reason behind their service.

What a great/awful question! I think there’s another factor at play here too. Sometimes people may know or suspect that a friend/neighbor/coworker is a Christian, but don’t want to bring up the subject because they are afraid that individual will attempt to “evangelize” them. Last year I wrote a post entitled, “When Evangelism is Evil” because I believe that when Christians approach evangelism as a project to be accomplished via gimicks (if you were to die tonight…) this gives the world the idea that to follow Christ means being a condescending, manipulative, guilt/fear monger who is selling Jesus as a product, or pushing Him as a drug.

That being said, I suspect that the reason I do not hear that question is because there is precious little evidence that I am a follower of the God who calls me to love my neighbor as myself. I may profess that my intention is to love others in that way, as an end in itself, rather than as a means to another end. But the evidence of my life says otherwise. That’s not to say that I am generally unloving, but rather, that I do nothing which stands out in any way as being particularly sacrificially loving or giving.

This is my first time to your blog. I’ll be back.

Gary, I’m glad it’s not up to me to write things worth coming back to, and I will endeavor to pray always that God will use my gifts of communication (and the blessing of having a laptop and internet connection). I appreciate you coming because you display an honesty and openness here that isn’t always evident in humans, including me.

Yes, we unfortunately humanize all of faith, because that is what we understand apart from the Holy Spirit, so, even evangelism becomes marketing and a product. Ugh… i’ve seen it in myself (but not too many times because there haven’t been enough attempts).

Thanks for stopping by and for adding much to the conversation!