There have been times when we’ve shared the gospel with someone who became insulting and antagonistic quickly and seemingly without cause. We only found out later that there was a lot more going on in their life than my witnessing.
The problem may be them, but sometimes it lies with us. Maybe we’re occasionally less than kind in our approach even though 1 Peter 3:15 says we’re supposed to be gentle and respectful. At times, though, there’s an unseen wall we’re facing.
Many years ago I spoke with a Jehovah’s Witness named Mel who had been a Witness for most of his life. As we talked, he confided in me that his daughter had died a painful death. Blood transfusions should have been part of her treatment, but as a good Jehovah’s Witness, she refused the transfusions and eventually died. She “suffered for Jehovah,” Mel told me.
As he and I continued to meet, he began to understand what I was telling him about the love of Christ and the errors of the Watchtower were true. He told me at our last meeting, though, that he could never accept the Christian God because he would also have to accept that he had persuaded his little girl to die for a lie and she would be have been cast into outer darkness for the beliefs he had taught her. On top of that, Mel would have lost all of his social life and most family contact since his entire family was Jehovah’s Witnesses. They would be required to shun him if he left the Watchtower organization. There was a huge wall standing between Mel and accepting the truth.
Some people are like Mel who may even know what they believe is wrong but will hang in there for other reasons.
A person might be fighting against your witness because they were hurt by a church experience. Maybe they’re so angry with God, they want nothing to do with Him. Any offer of salvation falls on deaf ears. Maybe it’s a personal tragedy or an abused childhood and they blame God. We often just don’t know what walls we’re facing.
So, how do we scale these walls? How do we help hurting people, scared people, scarred people? We love them. We don’t speak louder. We don’t exclude them from our circle of friends. We love them.
We can’t convince them with words because they won’t listen. We have to show them. It may take some time for them to see, but we need to be patient and persistent. The Spirit of God lives in us. Let’s allow Him to love others through us.
The parable of the Good Samaritan shows us that there should be no limit to who we love either. Everyone is our neighbor. The Samaritan and the Jewish victim had very little in common. They were separated by religion, by geography, by ethnicity, and by prejudice. Yet, Jesus uses the Samaritan to show who our neighbor is, who we’re supposed to love. We’re to love everyone.
So, we need to be sensitive and understand that those who need the gospel may not be willing or even looking to receive it due to circumstances beyond our control. But, God is faithful and not willing that any should perish. We must be Christians to them and for them.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 