We completed a financial deal a while back in which everything that could go wrong did and what should have taken six weeks took four months.
I was on the phone frequently with the agency handling the final details. When I found a sympathetic ear, the next time I called, I asked for her personally. She tried so hard to oil the wheels of bureaucracy to make things go faster, so it was hard to be mad at her. It was not her fault and she honestly was doing everything she could to work it all out for me.
The last time I talked to her, she told me she would like to meet me face to face some day because I had been so kind. “You can look at my picture on my web page,” I told her and then gave her the address for my devotional website.
After I hung up, I thought to myself, “I could never have done that if I had “cussed” her out over this financial deal.”
When will the church realize that what the world needs from Christians is love? We have preached at them, denounced them as sinners, threatened them with hell, and yet that has not persuaded them to come to Christ. Sinners know that they have sinned without being told.
Jesus is building his kingdom by building relationships. Jesus called twelve disciples, but then we hear of the seventy disciples. Next we hear of multitudes following Jesus. How did so many people hear of Jesus? The old fashioned way—by word of mouth.
I Peter 3:15 NKJV says “Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you.”
When people see that you care about them, you won’t have to preach to them. They will see Jesus in you and want to know you better. There will come a moment when they ask you why you are so happy or come to you with a problem in their life and then you will have the opportunity to share Jesus with them. No preaching. Just sharing in love.
Be ready.