For most of my life I’ve been trying to play the part of a Christian
salesman. You know who I’m talking
about…right? I was the guy who knew he
was supposed to share his faith, but didn’t want to push his ideas on others. The guy who, when conversation came up about
his beliefs, had to make sure to say the right things to present the Gospel in
a light that would be attractive. I
would try to get people to see the “good” stuff in Christianity and if I did a
good enough job, they just might decide to follow Jesus.
It was all on my shoulders! I had to say the right things at the right time and then I could win
souls for the Kingdom. That is, if I
could work up the courage to say anything at all. But what if I said the wrong things? What if I should’ve used this scripture
reference instead of that one? What if I
wasn’t friendly enough? What if….I
screwed up? The fear of turning someone
off to the Gospel made me hesitant to share with others who I was and what I
believed.
It’s ironic though because I’ve been trying to convince
people accept Jesus when Jesus didn’t try to convince anyone to accept him. First, it wasn’t about His acceptance. He knew he would be rejected; that was a
given. Second, it wasn’t about
convincing. He put an offer on the table
and then people had to make their decision to follow Him or not.
When I look at how Jesus spoke to people it was almost as if
He was trying to talk them out of following Him. He would say things like you have to pick up
your cross to follow me. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but I have nowhere
to lay my head. If you don’t hate your
father, mother, wife, children, you can’t be my disciple. That’s not a great way to rally the troops!
In essence He was saying, “Do you realize what following me
will cost you?” This isn’t just a prayer
to get a ticket into heaven. This is a
life altering decision that will require the laying down of your life! The cost is high and the reward may not even
be seen in this lifetime. People aren’t
going to understand you. Sound like a
good deal? The truth is that being a salesman
for Christianity is a terrible job. You’re
trying to sell discipline, self-sacrifice, and obedience….things that go
against everything we’ve been taught culturally.
But our job isn’t to convince anyone; God does that. He is
the one who draws men to Himself. Sure
we may be used in certain circumstances to play a part in leading people to
Christ, but if God wants someone to know Him, they will.
A lot of people who pray the “sinner’s prayer” don’t know
the expense of following Christ. They have
no idea of what the cost is because we haven’t told them. We’ve created a version of following Jesus
that fits in our American idea of how we want to live. Well, it doesn’t work that way. Instead of watering things down so we can
keep our numbers up, maybe we should present the Gospel for what it is….a
trading in of our small, insignificant lives for a bigger, better purpose in
the kingdom of God. Sure, more people
will walk away than stay, but at least the ones who stay will know what they
are getting themselves into. Lukewarm
shouldn’t be an option in our churches.
