Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Christians can be so pushy

There is something that bothers me about Christians, We are results orientated. It is not our fault alone though, the world is where we get this results mindset. Too often we want to see someone come to believe that Jesus died for our sins that we get overly pushy. The Bible does nt say to go out and win people to Christ. It also doesn't say to scare people into confessing Christ or to bother them until they confess Christ. The Bible says:
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
That is what we are to do. It really bothers me when I hear well meaning Christians say, "how many souls have you saved today?" I'm sorry but the Bible doesn't tell me to win souls. My job is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and leave the saving to God. He is the one that works in peoples hearts to believe. Christians are just the message carriers.
Don't take me the wrong way. I'm not advocating that Christians stay in their churches and keep the good news of Jesus Christ to ourselves. I'm saying that we need to not worry about whether or not the people we witness to automatically believe what we tell them.The last time anyone told me the Gospel was in 1988. I didn't become a believer until 2001. God works in us to believe. It's not a matter of pushing for a decision. It's a matter of sowing the seed and watering here and there and leave the rest in God's hands.
The problem comes when Satan works in us to push for a decision from the person to believe. Satan wants to hamper our efforts and one of the best ways to do this is to work in us to push for an immediate decision. We need to just take a deep breath, relax, and pray for God to work in the person's life. So what if we don't see them come to believe that our God, Jesus, died for their sins, was buried, and rose the third day. Our work is to show them they are sinners, tell them the gospel, and in our prayer time pray for them to believe. Patience is what we need, and with God we learn a lot about patience.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached to you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1 Corinthians 15:1-4

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