Season With Salt

1/13/14                  Chris,             22

Early into an outreach conversation at the coffeeshop, Chris, the engineering student I was talking to, told me he had grown up in a Methodist church and had even done a short-term missions trip to Africa sponsored by his church, but now has serious questions about Christian beliefs.  He had just recently had a negative interaction with some Christian evangelists and was very critical of them, even giving them some blame for his unbelief.  Then he asked me “So why do you ask this question?” – referring to my question about eternity.  Other than the fear of rejection, I believe the fear of misrepresenting God and turning others off to a relationship with God is one of the top reasons why we as Christians are so hesitant to share our faith – but it doesn’t have to be this way.  By its very nature, the Gospel is offensive to people, because although it is the “good news” of salvation it really doesn’t make sense without the bad news of our sin and condemnation.  But we don’t need to add to the offense by being personally rude or judgmental, and from his descriptions this was how these evangelists had come across. Chris had good reason to want nothing to do with them.  They had made assumptions about his beliefs by his outward appearance rather than taking the time to let him speak for himself, preaching at him rather than talking with him.  In answer to his question I began by saying “Well, first of all, I know I can’t convince anybody of anything.  I just want to listen to where people are at in their beliefs, and respond by correcting any misconceptions they may have about what the Bible actually teaches.”  And that’s what I did with Chris, who, despite his church upbringing, had many misconceptions about the Bible and Christianity in general.  In the end, I told him much the same thing as the evangelists who had turned him off, but he said “but you said it different. What you say makes sense, and you are willing to listen”   Let’s strive to live out Colossians 4:4-6: “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”