Perspective that Provokes Evangelism

Most every one of us at LBC (and evangelical churches) know that they should share their faith. Most of us know a verse or two and believe that the results are in God's hands. Yet few of us share as often as we should (myself included). It's not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of perspective - it is simply not in the forefront of our minds.

Reflecting on this, I believe part of the problem in losing perspective is the multitude of distractions available to occupy and entertain our time - also the universal human struggle of self-centeredness. But perhaps a more problematic and less visible issue is that we lose sight of what is on the line. With what is at risk for the lost. There is a temptation in feeling saved and "in" that the peril that was formerly ours drifts away from our minds.

Lost people are not just separated from God’s love when they die – they don’t simply cease to exist and unfortunately miss out on golden streets and praising Jesus. Jude refers to “the punishment of eternal fire” and how believers need to “save others, snatching them out of the fire” – this is serious. People desperately NEED this message - they are not missing out on a sweet deal, but on free rescue from eternal torment.

The point isn't for everyone to begin street preaching, but to begin looking at unsaved neighbors, coworkers, family members, and friends with intentionality. Next time you are mowing your lawn and your neighbor is outside will you stop and talk to them? If they are mowing the lawn, will you go "check the mail" even if you know there is none there? Could it be that God put you in your house for a higher reason than having a place to live? Will you take a coworker out to lunch even though you already brought leftovers? Whatever it is that you do, view it as the opportunity to magnify Christ’s saving power that will rescue their soul from eternal condemnation.

Remembering that the only outcome for a lost soul is forever painful has helped me be more intentional with how I arrange my schedule, spend my time, planning conversation, and what I discuss. Now I look for opportunities to connect with unbelievers and when scheduled, I think of a few things I plan to bring up in conversation to transition to the spiritual. For example, an unbelieving coworker is engaged, so I planned to ask details about the wedding and transition with "is it in a church or do you have a pastor?" After asking this, we ended up discussing his past experience with church and religion, to which he asked what I thought about Christianity - and BOOM - a natural opportunity to share the gospel!

The truth is it doesn't have to be hard or intimidating to share the gospel - but it does have to be intentional and we do need to be flexible. I hope that dwelling on the spiritual reality that our interactions with unbelievers are opportunities to help them be saved from the pit helps you be more intentional too.