September 16, 2021 – Click here to listen
I met a man one time who was of Jewish descent, and upon my asking, told me that he “tried” the Orthodox and Reformed Jewish religion, explored Buddhism, Tao, spiritualism, and even attended a couple of Christian services. He said that he found them all to be paths to enlightenment, but he had none that he favored over another. He then described his personal belief system as being a “humanist”.
Hmmm . . . I laughed out loud and told him outright that I felt his spiritual voyage had left him shipwrecked on a deserted island with no provisions. I asked, “What’s next, are you going to paint a face on a coconut as a representative of Mother Earth and start asking it questions?” I failed miserably at leading this man to Christ because I focused on the wrong things and criticized and ridiculed him instead of talking to him about Jesus.
This reminded me of a motorcycle crash I had in my youth. One time when I was about fourteen, I had been down at a local park shooting basketball. I rode a motorcycle at the time and was returning home with the basketball between my knees. I lived in a subdivision that had multiple 90 degree turns in the roads leading to my house, which meant I had to almost come to a complete stop before turning on one of them. As I turned the corner heading toward my house, I saw a slow-moving tractor about halfway down the street. For some strange reason, I wanted to pass the tractor before I got to the end of the street and instantly gave it full throttle and quickly caught up with and shot past the tractor.
The problem was slowing down enough to make the 90 degree turn at the end of the street. As I tried to brake and turn the bike, I lost traction due to some loose pavement pebbles and the motorcycle went down with me underneath the heavy bike and I slid about 50 feet. I was wearing tennis shoes and Bermuda shorts with a short sleeve tee shirt and no helmet. It wasn’t pretty. When I stopped sliding, the wheel was still turning on my leg and it was bleeding profusely and spraying blood like a geyser.
The old man on the tractor jumped down, and believe it or not, went running after my basketball that was rolling down the street. All the while the spinning wheel of the still running bike was ripping my leg to shreds. I couldn’t reach the off switch but finally maneuvered around and somehow got my arm free and turned the bike off. Just then I saw the old man who had been driving the tractor slowly walking towards me with the basketball. Between the two of us we got the bike off me and though it had a few scratches and dents on it I was able to ride it home and then head to a doctor to get the pavement pebbles removed from my face, legs, and arms and tend to all the cuts and scrapes.
I was thinking of this accident this morning and thought of the old man. He had great intentions to assist me, but retrieving my basketball was not nearly as important as turning the motorcycle off to keep it from chewing my leg up and helping me get out from underneath it. His priority had not been the one I needed most. I have many friends and acquaintances who are not Christians. They act different than Christians. Some swear like drunken sailors, some seem to prefer being drunk rather than sober, others undress every woman they see with their eyes as lust burns through them, others seem to be of good moral standing, but are just unhappy fearful souls like my Jewish friend.
Just like the tractor driver my intentions had been good with the Jewish man in that I very badly wanted to introduce him to Jesus and all the eternal peace, joy, and love that I know can only come from Him. I have learned that it is important not to get sidetracked and go “running after the basketball” and instead, focus on the crux of the matter when dealing with the lost. The most important part of the equation, (the crux of the matter,) is Jesus. If we focus on the many sins and rationalizations of the lost and criticize them for behaving like . . . well . . . the unsaved people that they are how can we help them? And what makes us any different than them anyway? We are sinners too . . .
The difference is Jesus. Christians are not perfect – We are merely forgiven by Jesus Christ who did all the work to make atonement possible, lest anyone should boast. Something to think about when you are trying to “help” a lost person find their way. They will hardly listen to you, if you tell them they are living a life filled with sin and how wrong they are for being lost and not following Jesus.
The consequences of a sin-filled life are great and generally end up resulting in much unhappiness and misery. They are looking for something to fill the empty hole in their lives. If you focus on telling them about the love, joy, and compassion of Jesus and how He only wants them to be happy and full of love and instead of pointing out their sins and trying to make them feel bad about themselves, we focus on the positive side of being a Christian, we will get much further down the road. Learning to fight sin can come later.
Tolerance starts with being “others-centered” rather than “self-centered.” When faced by someone with an unbiblical opinion or lifestyle, restrain feelings to retaliate or put the person down. Biblical tolerance is based on seeing them as being lost and trying to help them find their way. The Bible and the Holy Spirit within us tell us they deserve our compassion. When you view lost people this way, you can listen to them and treat them with openness and respect, even though you disagree with them. Biblical tolerance means to share truth with gentleness and respect.
1 Peter 3:15
I will share God’s truth with others in gentleness and respect.