Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” (Acts 26:28, NIV)
I don’t know how your interest in golf got started, but I’m guessing it didn’t happen with your buddy waxing endless about his most recent game, then turning to you and saying boldly, “I’m gonna make a golfer outta you yet!”
The fact is, most of us have the exact same reaction to anyone who tells us they’re going to make us into something we’re not: resistance. An insightful person once said, “People don’t resist change; they resist others changing them.”
So when we walk into the events of Acts 26, as much as we are rooting for Paul’s evangelistic efforts, we’re not altogether surprised when King Agrippa pulls up short of making “the change.”
Agrippa, however, may have been the first to commit the error that many have made after him. They think that (1) faith begins with some sort of rhetorical persuasion, and (2) religious adherents—not just Christians—hunger for conversions like miners seek diamonds, all for personal gain. Sadly many of these adherents—and yes, more than a few of these say they are Christians—play right into this thinking. Their goal is to “count converts” and their method is to win arguments.
What Paul understood in talking to Agrippa and others is that winning people over to Christ is not about making them converts, as though we have the power to change anyone. True change is the work of the Spirit of God.
What does this mean for us in talking to others about our faith in Jesus, something we know Paul’s own example and words encourage us to do?
First, we must see ourselves as ambassadors who represent Jesus. This is a work not of cutting others down but of lifting Jesus up. Revere him in your heart, praise him with your words, honor him before others. This is the best argument you can make.
Second, set your mind to winning others rather than outwitting them. Paul wrote of becoming all things to all people so that he “might win some.” This is not the language of one set on conquest but of one set on convincing them in love and respect.
When we are faithful in this work, another’s “becoming a Christian” may look like it is initiated by their curiosity in who we are and this God-man we follow—and in a way it is. But those who come to Jesus only do so by the initiation of the Holy Spirit. They make their choice on the basis of his work in their heart, not our clever words or strong desire. When we recognize this, we also understand that true Christians are those in whom Christ has done his true work.
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Jeff Hopper
October 28, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.