2/22/14 Ed 50
Should Christians strive to be "normal" or "radical"?
“I believe
in a God of some kind and some sort of life after this one, I just
choose not to get all worried about it” a man named Ed told me.
It
was hard to tell him I agree with him. After all I had started an
evangelistic conversation with him somewhat out of the blue at a Burger
King restaurant, something I view as what “normal” Christians should be
expected to do but something the world, and often other Christians,
would label as over-zealous, radical, or even extremist.
But
the truth is, I did agree with Ed, for two reasons, both of which helped
me share biblical truths as I explained them to Ed. First I told Ed
something that really put him at ease in talking with me: “I believe
that as a Christian I am to share the Gospel, but I really don’t believe
I can convince anyone to become a Christian. That’s a change that only
God can make in a person. I just share what I can of the Gospel
message and believe that God will do the rest, so I don’t feel the need
to pressure anyone.”
Second, I explained the difference between
doing good works to obtain salvation, as most major religions teach in
some form or another, and being saved for good works, as biblical
Christianity teaches. I explained how a passage like Ephesians 2:8-10
teaches us that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, not
through our good works, and that our response when we have received that
gift is one of wanting to show gratitude to God.
Ed has been
heavily influenced by self-help gurus and motivational speakers like
Tony Robbins who teach how one can be at peace with oneself, so I told
him “You really can’t be at peace with yourself until you are at peace
with God, and the Bible teaches that outside of faith in Jesus, our sins
have cut us off from that peace. We want to hide from God and avoid
Him but we need to get back into a right relationship with Him. A lot
of people frantically try to prove their goodness through good works,
which is why many religious people seem way too uptight about their
beliefs, but only one simple thing is needed – a trusting relationship
with Jesus.”
This made a lot of sense to Ed, and opened him up
to want to talk further about the radical message of the peace that
passes all understanding that only Jesus can bring.
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