So, last night I was at an L Team reunion of sorts. We had met regularly through the winter and spring but been off for the last couple months. Last night wegot the folks together to reconnect and talk about faith and life. It was anice conversation, the sort that encourages you and gives you some perspective.
A question came up "Do I really need to feel an obligation to convert my friends." This sentiment has been expressed to me in several permutations. Last night it was in the context of God's judgment. What do you do? We all have friends or family whom we love. Sometimes they are even good people, and their life seems to be going o.k. To think that we have to convert them makes us feel like the shamwow guy. Like we are trying to hawk something we’re not even sure they need. It makes me think of that line from Don Miller, “every time I go to share my faith I feel like some one in a pyramid scheme trying to add to their down line.”
When it really gets down to it, do we think that good people whom we love will have a horrible eternity if they don’t believe the message about Jesus?
That’s a tough question to answer. Espescially when you have a particular person in mind. I can’t answer it for you. In fact I have trouble answering it for myself (it is a hard thing to say out loud). But that’s not really what motivates me. I want the people in my life to engage Jesus personally, less because of eternity, and more because of right now. I am convinced that life right now is better (not easier, but better) with Jesus than without him.
That being said, my primary mode of evangelism is prayer. I don’t feel the urge or need to push Jesus on people, or to sell his good qualities. I know the Holy Spirit converts, so I ask him to convert the people I love. Then I prepare myself for the opportunity to provide them with an answer for my engagement with Jesus. I know all I have to do is answer honestly why I would believe and follow Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will do the rest.
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