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Live It, Don't Sell It

By Laura on September 15, 2006

I’ve posted before on how some Christians behave as though they’re selling Amway. In Witness Without Being a Pest, Henry Neufield writes,

“some Christians who want to push themselves on everyone in a frantic race to convert and bring into church membership as many people as possible. “Jesus is coming back,” they think, “and he’s going to accidentally fry a bunch of people if I don’t get busy.” The answer, they seem to think, is to work on the statistics as fast as possible.”

I wish I had written that, because it perfectly – if irreverently – encapsulates the attitude of so many well-meaning Christians. Henry has a great deal more on this, including the other side of the spectrum – the apathetic Christians. Read the whole thing.

Just a reminder… our job is to live it, not to sell it. Because God doesn’t need us to “sell” it.

Filed Under: Christian Living

Comments

  1. Amanda says:
    September 15, 2006 at 9:53 am

    Amen!

  2. Jprime says:
    September 17, 2006 at 8:42 am

    Applause! This is one of the best posts I’ve ever read on a Christian website, or in any Christian publication! I’ve often wondered if the measures some people take to convert non-Christians and “spread the word” isn’t a sign of lack of faith…as if God couldn’t do it himself, in his own way, over time. God is all-powerful and has a plan, we need to have more faith in that, and stop trying to jigger or hasten that plan.

Trackbacks

  1. Sounds Good, But Is It? at Pursuing Holiness says:
    September 22, 2006 at 11:35 am

    [...] In short, no matter what statistics Sam Harris can quote in his atheistic proselytizing to illustrate how nut job religious whackos are running the country, the reality is that we are now less of a Christian nation than ever before. There has been an inexorable trend in our nation’s history, and it is decidedly not toward conservatism or Christianity. This is not, however, a reason for Christians to be discouraged or panicked. If God is sovereign as we believe He is, then we’re not in a race against the likes of Mr. Harris to covert as many people as possible to our way of thinking. (And we don’t have the power to convert someone, anyway.) We are in a battle, but our enemy is far more formidable than the ACLU. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world’s rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12 MKJV) Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:19-23 ESV) [...]