“Pride,” wrote C.S. Lewis, “is the complete anti-God state of mind.” The best way to defeat arrogance is with meekness.
My inadvertent response disarmed the spirit of pride and momentarily neutralized the adversary’s efforts to keep him incarcerated behind his wall. The Spirit slightly lifted the spiritual barrier like venetian blinds and let a little sunshine in.
My evangelism was “accidental” in that it wasn’t the words I said or the strategy I used. My acumen as a debater moved the conversation anywhere but forward. As surprising as it was to us both, only when I admitted failure to communicate, a shift occurred. Though he didn’t decide to follow Jesus on the spot, it seemed to me that the Spirit coaxed him a little further in the general direction of the Father’s love.
I don’t recommend this as an evangelistic device, a sure-fire formula for soul winning. I just wonder how much better our testimony would be if we toned down the condescending rhetoric and approached people with genuine humility.
– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends the profits of which go to YWAM San Francisco.
barney wiget 