Leading People To Christ Made Natural, Easy And Fun
In this post we’ll expose the dirty lie that says that you need to befriend people to lead them Christ and exchange it for the clean truth of how to lead people to Christ in the right way, which makes it natural easy and fun.
Have you ever been challenged how to integrate your private faith life with your public life?
For example, you believe people come to faith by hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, yet in a social setting you don’t bring the conversation around to a “spiritual” topic. Then you wonder why you don’t share your faith…
Or you believe it’s God’s will to heal, yet when you come across a sick person you don’t always ask if they would like prayer. Then later you feel puzzled and condemned because you didn’t offer to pray.
Jesus did command us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:15-18).
It’s plain and clear Jesus expects us to tell about Him and operate in supernatural signs and wonders. Contrary to what most Christians think, however, He does not expect you with your will-power an determination to lead people to Him.
This might come as a shock to you but you are NOT suppose to “befriend” people or act friendly towards them or do stuff for them in order to lead them to Christ!
The vast majority of Christians does belief the lie that they should do something (like trying to be nice) in order to lead them to Christ.
You know what the result is?
Feeling guilty and condemned.
Why? Because there are always more unsaved, sick and hurting people you come across then you have time to minister to or that you are able to talk to or reach with your “evangelistic” attempts.
If you persist in the “leading-people-to-Christ-all-depends-on-me-doing-my-best” type mindset you’ll end up feeling condemned because there will be times – after meeting an unbeliever, a sick person or discouraged person – that you didn’t offer prayer, you didn’t lay hands to heal the sick, you didn’t cease the opportunity to mention Jesus, you didn’t steer the conversation to a “spiritual” topic.
As a result you feel bad about yourself, after all you belief that you’re not that great of an advertisement for Christianity. You might even be thinking God isn’t happy with you and isn’t proud of you since you’re falling short of His command to preach Him to all creatures.
The truth, however, is that it’s not up to you – yourself – to supernaturally reveal Jesus and His love to people!
What I’m about to show you next, might forever change the way you look at evangelism and lift a heavy, unhealthy religious burden of your shoulders.
Should you feel pressure because you know it’s a commandment to witness, offer prayer, encourage and lay hands on the sick?
Should you befriend people just to lead them to Christ?
The answer is a resounding NO!
Let me explain why it’s not a good idea to go out of your way to “befriend” people or act friendly towards them…do stuff for them…in order to lead them to Christ.
Click on the image below to watch the Vlog:
Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube
Understand Your True Identity
The answer is found in understanding your true nature – who you really are and to learn to just be yourself.
Who is Christ…and…who are you?
God is Love – Christ is God – Christ is Love.
Christ is in you – He is your true nature now.
So your true nature is to be LOVE.
Because you ARE Love, it comes natural to love people – without conditions.
Because you nature is to BE unconditional love towards people you should have no ulterior motives.
In the days I hadn’t tapped into the unconditional love of our Father I would say things like, “When we do evangelism we have an “hidden” agenda and that is to bring the “J” word into the conversation to get people closer to pray the sinners prayer.”
Now I say, “To understand God’s unconditional love leads us to having absolutely NO REASON to listen and talk to people!” There is just no “hidden” agenda when unconditional love is understood.
Consequently there is ZERO PRESSURE to perform a certain way in order to reveal Jesus and His love to people.
How then are we to go about the command to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, etc.? You just simply allow Christ (who is Love) to be expressed through you – to whomever you may meet each and every day.
When Christ was approached by the rich young man who wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life, scripture is clear about how He treated the man.
Mark 10:21 says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
How did Jesus approach this man? Jesus loved on him. You might be thinking, “Yes, but shouldn’t I try to lead them to Christ?” No.
Here’s what will happen: when you love unconditionally you are allowing Christ to express Himself through you. And people will notice. They’ll be magnetically drawn to you.
Side note: if you’re a guy women will definitively be magnetically drawn to you. Look at Jesus’ ministry, He always had women following Him around wherever He went. Why? Because He had NO ulterior motive for loving woman. (Most guys, however “act nice” or pretend to “love” a woman because they want something from that woman).
Jesus just simply loved them and they couldn’t get enough of Him. And they’ll want to know where this love comes from. They wonder “how can you be that way?” That’s when it’s time to tell them where this Love comes from…
That it comes from Christ who is now your life and identity and that you’ve a relationship with Him since He lives in you. You’ve exchanged your old life for His and now you’re just letting Christ love people through you each and every day. This is how you “win people to Christ.”
Let me ask you this question: Did Jesus ever start preaching to someone or healing someone before He showed them love? No. He first showed them love…showed them grace, compassion, forgiveness and sympathy (all of which come from love). Then people wanted to know “WHO ARE YOU?” And that’s when He introduced Himself as the Messiah.
No Pressure But Free To Be You
You might ask yourself, “Is there a place to tell people upfront about Jesus or offer prayer to heal the sick?” Of course. You’re free to express who you are and what you belief in any way, shape or form.
Or, you might ask yourself, “how can I ask strangers up front or in the middle of the conversation if they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior or if they are sick and in need for prayer?”
As soon as we try to answer these type of questions we inevitable get stuck in steps, principles and formulas. For example,
- 12 Strategies for effective evangelism.
- 8 Steps to start conversations and successfully share the Gospel.
- 4 Spiritual laws to help people understand God’s love and forgiveness to lead them to Christ, etc.
We already have seen that this is NOT what Christ had in mind when He said to make Him and His love known to the world.
Usually these steps, formulas and spiritual laws put pressure on you and make you feel insecure relating to people since you’re constantly thinking (read: worrying) if you’re doing it the right or wrong way.
The truth is that there is no wrong and right way, there is only the Jesus way.
How can you do life the Jesus way, thus be a great advertisement of love and grace to the world?
Just be yourself; allow Christ to express His love through you.
That’s the only way for you to be truly FREE to relate to people as you see fit in context of your unique personality.
No pressure to perform.
No condemnation.
If you think that you should befriend people just to lead them to Christ then your fooling yourself…but you’re not fooling anyone! People can tell if you’re being authentic. They can tell when you have a “hidden” agenda or ulterior motive.
You know how you feel when a Mormon knocks on the door, acts nice, and wants to talk with you. They’ll tell you, “If you need anything, anything at all – just give us a call!”
You KNOW exactly WHY they’re being so nice. They want to make you a Mormon too! It’s fake…a pretense…and act to try to get what they want from you.
It’s the same feeling you get from a salesman who really doesn’t care about you, but is acting REALLY nice. (my apologies to all the Mormons who watch this and are offended – I of course love you too – I am just making a point).
Here’s the downside of believing this lie that you should befriend people, act friendly and do stuff for them to lead them to Christ – it gives Christians a bad reputation…
And then what happens? You screw it up for the rest of us Christians who really are aiming at letting Christ express His love through us to people.
And unbelievers think, “Yeah, he’s just being nice because he wants to turn me into a Christian and make me go to church, and give up drinking, cussing, smoking, sexing, etc.,…I’m not falling for that one again!”
So, it seems you have two options my friend:
1) You can just be who you REALLY are – which is unconditional LOVE.
2) You can come off as a sleazy salesman or Mormon.
I know which one I’m choosing.
If you’re choosing the first option with me, you’ll live from the no-condemnation zone since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
Enjoy just being who you are and watch the world being transformed as a result without strain and stress.
This message will self destruct in 10 seconds,
P.S. BasRijksen(.com) is taking a summer break. That means you will receive your next Grace-filled post September 1.
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