Meaning of Convert : To persuade or induce to adopt a particular religion, faith, or belief: convert pagans to Christianity; was converted to pacifism by the war.
How many of us try to tell a non-Christian how they need to "Stop doing this..." and "Stop doing that..." and "Clean up this area of your life..." and "Clean up that area of your life..." Why do they feel the need to try to force non-Christians to act like Christians before they are one? This can be and has been a major turn off to them.
Christians believe that it is up to God, ultimately, to convince people to follow him (John 6:44, 16:13). If we are going to share with our friends or family, I think we need to understand what it is that they believe... Many of those that are non-Christians have been confronted about thier beliefs or lack of beliefs to the point of being turned off by religion...
In Closing: Our friends, church, pastor or others can encourage us on our walk with Christ... But I know in my heart that unless I have a personal relationship and friendship with Christ it is all meaningless. We can learn from others, but they can't live our life for us... Just like we can live others life for them... They have to decide when it is time to have that special relationship with Christ... We can't do it for them, no matter how much we would like to see our loved ones spend eternity with us and with Christ... Each person has to pursue Christ for themselves... It isn't our job to convert them... It's our job to show them who Christ is and the rest is up to them... All of us must make that choice for Christ...
Jesus calls people to "Follow Me." He calls people to "Walk with Me." You and I are followers; we are disciples of Jesus Christ. To the first disciples, He said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Part of fishing for people is to invite them to fish for more people; all disciples are to fish; all disciples are to encourage others to walk with them.
How many of us try to tell a non-Christian how they need to "Stop doing this..." and "Stop doing that..." and "Clean up this area of your life..." and "Clean up that area of your life..." Why do they feel the need to try to force non-Christians to act like Christians before they are one? This can be and has been a major turn off to them.
This is something I have had to really work on... Without going into names, I know this person who knows there is a God, but doesn't believe in heaven and hell or much of what the Bible says... It's a great story and that is about it... My thoughts are that even Satan believes there is a God and that Jesus lived and died... But many times Jesus isn't real to people... There isn't a true relationship... Jesus is a name, He existed, He was a great teacher and He died... What is hard is when the person who thinks this way is someone you care about and love... What I find sad too is that when you know there is a heaven and a hell and those you know don't believe in Heaven... They will have to find out the hard way and that's pretty sad...
Then I have to ask myself why am I trying to convert my non-Christian friend or family member... Is it because what they believe makes me uncomfortable or angry? For me my faith is the most important thing about who I am... But is my faith the most important thing to others? If my only interest is to convert them to my way of thinking, more than likely I will not get a warm welcome from my friends or family... There are times I would love to take a hammer and knock sense into people and wake them up to the truth... But then what they believe is truth to them just as much as what I know is truth to me... That's where respect comes in for those around us... I have a hard time with this one though, but I am working on it... Well, most days I work on it!
When I think of the area I live in, I can't help but think about what the Mormons are doing right... They are getting to know the people in the community and taking a genuine interest in the person and doing what I call friending... I think that is a lost art... Many times Christians or people of other faiths are more about pushing their views on others instead of patiently talking and getting to know the person... I don't see many Christian churches that are willing to go out into the neighborhoods and see what the needs are... This is a big pet peeve of mine...
When I think of the area I live in, I can't help but think about what the Mormons are doing right... They are getting to know the people in the community and taking a genuine interest in the person and doing what I call friending... I think that is a lost art... Many times Christians or people of other faiths are more about pushing their views on others instead of patiently talking and getting to know the person... I don't see many Christian churches that are willing to go out into the neighborhoods and see what the needs are... This is a big pet peeve of mine...
Christians believe that it is up to God, ultimately, to convince people to follow him (John 6:44, 16:13). If we are going to share with our friends or family, I think we need to understand what it is that they believe... Many of those that are non-Christians have been confronted about thier beliefs or lack of beliefs to the point of being turned off by religion...There are many versions of Jesus in the world... Just like there are many types of people in the world... What I believe is that there is only one- and He is the only true way (John 14:6), and He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8)... This is why we all must have our own personal relationship with Jesus... We must have our personal walk with the real Jesus, our Jesus... For me I rely on Jesus for everything... There is no way I could rely on anything or anyone in the world like I can rely on Jesus...
In Closing: Our friends, church, pastor or others can encourage us on our walk with Christ... But I know in my heart that unless I have a personal relationship and friendship with Christ it is all meaningless. We can learn from others, but they can't live our life for us... Just like we can live others life for them... They have to decide when it is time to have that special relationship with Christ... We can't do it for them, no matter how much we would like to see our loved ones spend eternity with us and with Christ... Each person has to pursue Christ for themselves... It isn't our job to convert them... It's our job to show them who Christ is and the rest is up to them... All of us must make that choice for Christ... As people start to notice how we live as a Christians, they will wonder, "What's so different about them?" Eventually, what's going to happen is that they will respond to the witness of our lives one of two ways...
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