Bible Reading:Jude 1:22-23
[22] And of some have compassion, making a difference: [23] And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” We live in a culture where it seems like the smallest little thing offends people today. It’s almost as if people are looking for a reason to be offended, or hurt. I myself have been on the front lines saying “they need to be tougher, they need thicker skin.” I get it, it’s frustrating, but how are we as Christians supposed to respond. People ask me sometimes is confrontational evangelism or relationship evangelism the best way to witness and my answer to that is yes…..let me explain.
I think both ways are effective. Some people may respond to a door to door question such as “sir if you died today where would you spend eternity?” A question like that may make someone stop and think “I don’t know where I’d spend eternity.” I think that is what verse 23 is referring to. The majority of people in today’s culture probably aren’t going to respond very well to that question however. I believe they turn you off before you ever say another word. And I know that may have been the way we were taught to do door to door visitation, but could I say that maybe today’s culture could use a little more compassionate approach. Jude says here in verse 22 that some people we share the Gospel with need an approach where we show kindness, some patience with them. I 100% believe our message of the Gospel never changes, but I do think our methods can change with our culture. I think we as Christians are guilty of beating people over the head with the Gospel and we’ve missed out on the key ingredient in the first place, and that’s love.
Frank Newsome