Scenario 1: you're on the beach, in perfect weather, enjoying the sun. It's a beautiful day, it's warm on your skin, and you're feeling good. Then the sun inexplicably and in violation of all physics draws closer to the earth. Your retinas are obliterated, your skin is crispy. If you're still alive, you're in agony.
Scenario 2: you're eating a lovely salted caramel brownie in a cute little café with a cup of coffee (or tea, or whatever you like). The waitress comes around and asks how everything is, and you tell her it's delicious, and you love salted caramel. "Great!", she says, pulling out a bag of sea salt and dumping the whole thing on top of the brownie so that it fills the entire plate and overflows into your lap. You're then forced to eat the whole thing.
What is the common thread between the two? Light is one of the most amazing things in all God's creation. Light comes with hope, warmth, and renewed life. Salt gives food flavor - even sweet foods. It enhances, changes flavors, and can make all the difference in some dishes. But if someone gets too much of either in a concentrated, intense dose, they're in for high blood pressure and 3rd degree burns.
You can see where I'm going with this - Matthew 5, 13-14.
13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Now, these verses deal with not losing our love for the Lord, our zeal for sharing his salvation. With making sure that we are improving the lives of those around us by giving His love to others. But I want to talk about the opposite extreme.
If you'll allow me another unrelated analogy, imagine someone wanted you to be able to put your foot behind your head like a contortionist (I used to be able to - 20 years and many pounds ago). The first option is that they help you stretch daily, encourage you, and let your body adjust. The second is that they yank your foot behind your head, tearing ligaments and possibly doing irreparable damage.
Don't like any of those? Maybe you garden. Do you plant a seed, then aim a fire hose at the soil where it's sown? Do you scream at the soil to demand it give you your azaleas? If you do, I'd be interested to know how many flowers you've actually grown.
Whether you prefer the example of scorching sun, a plate of salt, or ripped muscle tissue, we as Christians are capable of doing this as we honor and obey the Great Commission. In our excitement to share eternal salvation, love, and our Heavenly Father with others, we hit them with all of it at once. We don't necessarily know where they're coming from, we're not meeting them there and guiding them along. We're dumping, yanking, and forcing. However good our intentions are, our actions can actually do a great deal to push people away from the church because they associate it with aggressiveness, lack of understanding, and pain.
I'm not telling you that you shouldn't be enthusiastic, or assertive, or firm in your sharing. I encourage you to be all of those things, even as I grow into more comfort with sharing outside of this blog. But it needs to be done in a Christ-like way. As someone I've now forgotten once said, "Jesus didn't say to Peter 'Get in this boat right now or you're going to Hell!'" He invited him, as he was, in his circumstances, to follow Him. To be in relationship with Him. God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve - He didn't stand under the tree to shout reminders at them all day. (And yes, they may have stayed away from it if He had, but sin will always find us because we are human.)
How can we meet them where they are? Ask yourself (or them if you don't know them well enough) some questions. What does that person believe now? What trauma might they have suffered that they associate with God or the church (for example, an abusive parent whipping them for perceived sins, abuse by a church official, humiliation in front of a congregation that believes in naming and shaming rather than lovingly confronting)? What are the barriers to belief? What is something you have in common with them that they can relate to? That you can build on? What part of your testimony speaks to something in their life? Start there.
And now for the truly hard part. You don't get to decide in whom you till soil, plant seeds, or water those already planted. You can't just plop down a fully grown oak tree in their heart and soul. But if you approach them with love, understanding, compassion, and conviction rather than condemnation, you are more likely to have an effect on them. You don't know what type of soil the seed will fall on if you do scatter them, but that is not up to us - we don't get to control that.
So give love, speak life, share God, and ask Him to bless your work. You may be surprised what springs up.
