Side note: I certainly don't plan on every post on here being the nearly 2000-word behemoth that the last one was.
How do we engage the people around us who are thoroughly against Christ? How do we deal with the committed atheist? How do we have the boldness to risk confrontation, and then once we are confronting those around us with the Gospel, how do we make sure we're communicating in love?
It's the same answer as always: Be filled with the Spirit. As well, we're commanded to "Let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly, with all wisdom... and whatever [we] do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:16-17). So (1) hide the Scripture in our hearts (Ps. 119:11), and (2) keep our hearts and minds focused on Christ, so that we're acting in His will.
Why this particular topic? There's a group of guys I'm interacting more and more with, several of whom are pretty committed atheists. One of them has specifically voiced that he doesn't mind Christianity - the typical, "Hey, if it works for you, that's cool, man," line - but that he certainly doesn't think it's for everyone... and the punch line was his friend saying, "Oh, I'd love to see you two argue that one." Well, honestly, I'm not interested in arguing, at this point. Should he want to discuss the intellectual merits for Christianity, I'm definitely on board with that - even a good heated discussion; those can be very fruitful. But Christianity is about more than its intellectual merits. In witnessing to these guys, my primary witness needs to be to their hearts. I have a responsibility to witness to their minds, but to paraphrase Pascal, the mind can be as sure as it wants but faith is still an act of the heart.
I'm grateful to God for giving me conviction that I need to be intentional with these guys, and for supplying the wisdom I need to go about it. Question for you all: who are you being intentional about? That is, who are you specifically praying for on a regular basis, who are you building relationship with, who are you sharing your love of God with? If the answer is, "No one," then you - like me up until the last year or so, and to a certain extent even up until this school year - are completely missing the point of our Christian walk. It's not about us, it's about Christ glorified and as many people brought to saving faith in Him as possible with the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Anything else is selfish.
Grace and peace to you, and may the Spirit guide you as you go throughout your day!
- Chris
How do we engage the people around us who are thoroughly against Christ? How do we deal with the committed atheist? How do we have the boldness to risk confrontation, and then once we are confronting those around us with the Gospel, how do we make sure we're communicating in love?
It's the same answer as always: Be filled with the Spirit. As well, we're commanded to "Let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly, with all wisdom... and whatever [we] do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:16-17). So (1) hide the Scripture in our hearts (Ps. 119:11), and (2) keep our hearts and minds focused on Christ, so that we're acting in His will.
Why this particular topic? There's a group of guys I'm interacting more and more with, several of whom are pretty committed atheists. One of them has specifically voiced that he doesn't mind Christianity - the typical, "Hey, if it works for you, that's cool, man," line - but that he certainly doesn't think it's for everyone... and the punch line was his friend saying, "Oh, I'd love to see you two argue that one." Well, honestly, I'm not interested in arguing, at this point. Should he want to discuss the intellectual merits for Christianity, I'm definitely on board with that - even a good heated discussion; those can be very fruitful. But Christianity is about more than its intellectual merits. In witnessing to these guys, my primary witness needs to be to their hearts. I have a responsibility to witness to their minds, but to paraphrase Pascal, the mind can be as sure as it wants but faith is still an act of the heart.
I'm grateful to God for giving me conviction that I need to be intentional with these guys, and for supplying the wisdom I need to go about it. Question for you all: who are you being intentional about? That is, who are you specifically praying for on a regular basis, who are you building relationship with, who are you sharing your love of God with? If the answer is, "No one," then you - like me up until the last year or so, and to a certain extent even up until this school year - are completely missing the point of our Christian walk. It's not about us, it's about Christ glorified and as many people brought to saving faith in Him as possible with the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Anything else is selfish.
Grace and peace to you, and may the Spirit guide you as you go throughout your day!
- Chris
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