God doesn’t merely recruit silver-tongued orators or skilled apologists for his quest for friends. The silver and the skill can at times inhibit the Spirit’s efforts to find his way into a person’s consciousness.
Rather than clarify, many words may confuse instead.Defense SecretaryCaspar Weinberger, assessing an international crisis said in a “briefing” (an oxymoron if ever there was one).”There’s continuing ground for serious concern and the situationremains serious. The longer it remains serious, the more groundthere is for serious concern.” Sounds serious!
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak,”said the half-brother of Jesus. (James 1:19) Turning a fireman’s hose on a thimble is not the best way to fill it.
When I first started following Jesus––as I look back on it, it was more like him following me around cleaning up my messes––my typical “witnessing” attempts entailed breathless barrages of words and Bible quotes. I reasoned that if I paused to inhale, my near comatose victims tended to escape to such pressing matters as getting home to open their junk mail. Steven Wright said, “My mechanic told me, ‘I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.’” Christians with a bad brakes (no off button) and a loud horn (a startling if not annoying bluster) attract few hungry souls to Jesus. What we lack in brakes, we make up for in bluster.
[An excerpt from my book: Reaching Rahab: Joining God in His Quest for Friends.]
barney wiget 