Yet hallow the Lord Christ in your hearts, ever ready with a defense for everyone who is demanding from you an account concerning the expectation in you, but with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that, in what they are speaking against you as of evildoers, they may be mortified, who traduce your good behavior in Christ.
1 Peter 3: 15-16, Concordant New Testament
When was the last time your heavenly Father asked you to help Him? When was the last time that God spoke to you and instructed you to do harm to those who were slandering His name? For all the time I have spent in the scriptures, I have yet to come across a commandment from the Lord that instructs us to lay waste to those who speak badly of the Lord. The closest I have come to this is scriptures that call on believers to be prepared with a response for those who speak wrongly of the Lord. This is where many a believer, myself included, has fallen by the wayside. As believers we all too often find ourselves in the predicament of conversations of the Lord and our faith. I can recall being asked by someone why I believed the way I did and having it turn into a long argument. Needless to say, this is NO way to introduce others to the wonder of Christ Jesus. Is it any wonder why some believers have come to be known as "Crazy Christians?" Like a disgraced scientist speaking false data, these believers are routinely shunned by those wanting to know more about Jesus. The argument simply isn't worth it in the end. For all of their good intentions, these people are not speaking Christ into others, but trying to force their own beliefs upon them. Like I said, I've been there more times than I like to admit. I've seen questions about my beliefs spiral into the harsh words of arguments. I was that crazy Christian. Lord help anyone who did not believe as I did. They were blasphemers who needed to be shown the wrath of the Lord! More often than not, I was the agent of that wrath. I would MAKE them believe in Jesus! Interestingly enough, the only converts I ever achieved using this approach were those itching for a good argument.
If I should be speaking in the languages of men and of the messengers, yet should have no love, I have become resounding copper or a clanging cymbal.
1 Corinthians 13: 1, Concordant New Testament
I recall listening to a radio pastor one morning while driving to work and hearing the padre ask all who were listening, "When has God ever asked you to help Him?" The sermon was on trusting in God, but it might as well have been a lesson on how we are to speak Jesus unto others. Does God need our assistance when it comes to those who openly defile Him? Not in the least. One might ask the Egyptians of old that very same question. So, what are we to do as Christians when we encounter such unbelievers? Well, for one, we are to speak to them as Jesus would, in love. Trust me, arguments among two people DO NOT produce the love of Christ. There are definitely ways which believers can converse with those who are not in order to introduce them to Jesus. I was introduced to the truth of Christ in me by having a conversation of local hiking trails. No arguments needed. There are definitely many opportunities to speak the love of Christ Jesus into those yearning to know more about Him. In reality, when someone asks why you believe the way you do they are not looking to start a argument. They are genuinely interested in knowing what you already know in your heart. This is our opportunity to share Jesus with someone who needs Him. What first drove you to seek out knowing more about Jesus? For me it was not wanting to live my life in hopelessness anymore. I wanted the hope that I had seen in the lives of my friends who were believers. How much more will it be for those who are watching us? How much more will they want what we already have?
Love is never lapsing, yet, whether prophesies, they will be discarded, or languages, they will cease, or knowledge, it will be discarded.
1 Corinthians 13: 8, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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