Proclaim it. Announce it. Hand it over.
It is a two-edged sword. It kills. It gives new life.
It is Christ Himself.
The Word has power. We can spend time defending it, but it’s power is in itself, not in our ability, or the ability of the hearer.
Personally, I wouldn’t spend a whole lot of time trying to convince atheists of anything.
I’d tell them that Christ Jesus loves them, He has died for them, He forgives them their sin and that one day they will be facing death and they will need the new life that only Christ Jesus can give. And that they can count on Him to keep His promises.
You can discuss evolution with them, and the pros and cons of scientific discovery and of human progression, or degradation.
But I think it’s far better to hand over the Word.
Share the cross and the resurrection… freely. Make no demands. Just give it to them in love.
And don’t expect them to thank you for it. They might. But more than likely, they will not be too pleased.
That’s tough.
But that’s life.
And, then you can move on…”for the harvest is great and the workers are few”.
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No?
Got a better idea?
Filed under: The Word |
The Old Adam Lives! 
I think it’s exactly because the Word is such a living and active thing that we chose to leave it sheathed much of the time. ‘Bite sized’ morsels, carefully prepared in a good dosing of ‘do-ist’ spirituality, are pretty much the standard fare, even in most ‘christian’ activity, so why would we expect the “Lion” of the Gospel to be released from its cage in other circumstances?
Spend any meaningful time talking with anyone about Christ and His message and the line is drawn, pure and simple – and we cannot have that now, can we…
Well said, Steve!
If we can’t convince them with love and the Word, they don’t want to be convinced.
When the Samaritans wouldn’t let Jesus stay overnight in their villages, He just moved on, rather than dispute with them why they shouldn’t.
“The Word has power. We can spend time defending it, but it’s power is in itself, not in our ability, or the ability of the hearer.”
This was important for me to read right now. Thank you.
Dorci
Perfect, Steve.
A.
“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . . .”
Paul of Tarsus, 1st century a.D.
excellent!
I’m really excited about the new Concordia Lutheran Study Bible comming out Oct. 31st!
It seems that there is a huge desire to read and study scripture lately, at least in my small corner of the where I live. I can only hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is behind it and I pray that across our nation and the world that Gods Word is being turned to in these tough times. What a great thing! I know the Holy Spirit is moving and working in me. I really am excited about studying scripture. That is a praise report!
I’m curious if Bible sales are up?
I know in my life that scripture has always been here, and we’ve always been encouraged to read it and study it and be excited about it. I just can’t help it feel like my generation (born in the late 70’s into the 80’s) might really be starting to get it. I pray that some sort of spiritual (scripture) revival is taking place.
Thanks for the post! Gods timing is unpredictable and humorous and right on!
=-)
The best thing you can tell someone about IS the Gospel message of how we are ALL sinners and Jesus Christ, the righteous one, died on the cross for us. We are all messed up… not just the guy over there where society acknowledges his issues and problems but when you dig into your own closet you see where the real problem lies… in all of mankind!
But the answer comes to us in Christ alone!
# 1 Sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”)
# 2 Sola fide (“by faith alone”)
# 3 Sola gratia (“by grace alone”)
# 4 Solus Christus or Solo Christo (“Christ alone” or “through Christ alone”)
# 5 Soli Deo gloria (“glory to God alone”)
E-Sword, a great free Bible program, offers the ESV as a free add-on module.
Searches are instant, and if you add KJV with Strong’s Numbers (also free), you can find a lot of interesting details that get lost in the translation.
(You can also install the Vulgate, Spanish, and Arabic translations, among others; I find something I like in the ESV and then switch over for the Latin, Spanish, or Arabic. A very useful tool!)