Would you consider yourself to be popular? Do you believe you have lots of friends? Does it seem like most everybody likes you? If you answered yes to all three questions, you might need to reconsider your worldview. It may be that you’ve aimed your power of persuasion in the wrong direction. Of course, that sounds counter-intuitive, but it depends on your worldview. If yours is primarily Christian, it makes more believable sense to understand your popularity might not rank so high…that is…if you’re truly loving your neighbors of this world by telling them THE Truth. There, I said it. And those two tiny words can incite so much anger and bring on so much debate. Wanna know why it’s important to stand firm on that worldview? Well, it’s like this…
…when you say anything with absolute certainty, it forces (or compels) everyone to choose a position. And since many or most people prefer to take the middle-of-the-road position, they’re offended by anyone or anything that even slightly nudges them to one side or the other. This was true of the man who called himself THE Truth, Jesus. And He said anyone who would choose to follow and trust Him would have to deal with the same kind of persecution He suffered.
Maybe, at this point, you’re thinking, “Tony, your power of persuasion for a Christian worldview has come up short. It doesn’t sound appealing at all.” I agree that suffering isn’t a very persuasive argument for following Jesus. And that’s why I don’t often focus on that. However, it needs to be mentioned now and then if I’m gonna be transparent about what’s involved in trusting the one true, living, loving Creator of the universe, it’s important to give you the good news AND the bad. But the good news about the bad news is…it only lasts a little while. The best part of Christianity is its forever-ness. The challenges you may face in this life don’t even remotely compare to eternity in paradise with God.
No one in this world can give you anything, besides love, that will last forever. But God has the gift of eternal life for anyone who loves Him. So, who do you think it’s most important to please? A: Your Creator who wants you to live forever in paradise? Or B: The people in this world who don’t care whether you live or die? With whatever power of persuasion I possess, I hope to convince skeptics to pick A. If you just can’t do it, would you please write to me and tell me why?
Stay tuned,
