Commitment - Conviction - Counting on the Holy Spirit
I've always believed that the 3 most important areas in the art of reaching out are:1) COMMITMENT
2) CONVICTION
3) COUNTING ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
With reference to Aristotle's 3 principles of the art of rhetoric,
i.e. "Ethos", "Pathos" and "Logos",
I have made some observations as follows...
COMMITMENT - without which, there will be no completion of anything started.
1. It is of utmost importance for me who strives to reach out, to COMMIT to living a life which credibly reflects Christ's work in me, as this directly affects the "Ethos" element of the message I send.
In other words, without a COMMITMENT to genuinely strive to live a Christ-like life,it is hard for anyone to believe me when I say God changed my life.
2. It is of paramount importance also, to realise that to truly help a person to understand the love of Christ, I need to COMMIT to loving the person in real and tangible ways. This will greatly enhance the "Pathos" element of the message of love I send. The only thing that beats a visible action of love is a continuous series of visible actions of love.
In other words, a COMMITMENT to continually love a person through real acts of love, kindness and generousity, is crucial in bringing Jesus' love into the pre-believer's world. Without which, all other things will be way harder.
CONVICTION - without which, there will be little or no connection of the message to the listener.
I have noted that it is so true when the Bible says in Romans 10:17 that "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing of the Word of God."
What comes from the heart goes to the heart.
If I am not WHOLEHEARTEDLY convinced and CONVICTED totally that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to God and without giving one's life to Him, one will certainly burn in hell forever,
I will show it when I speak.
Any listener can hence, tell easily.
A CONVICTION of the heart can only come from reading the Word of God and seeking Him in desperation to convict me. I may also read other Christian books (of which I love the Apologetics genre the most) to equip me with proofs outside of the Bible, so as to give an answer to any question posed by a seeker of Truth.
A CONVICTION in the message will bring depth and confidance to the "Logos" of the rhetoric.
A CONVICTED Christian is a strong Defender of the Truths of the Bible. The world I live in today is subtly sliding into an era of no absolutes of anything.
I have to make a choice how I want to convey the message of Jesus Christ.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
COUNTING ON THE HOLY SPIRIT - without which no soul will be saved.
I find myself being disappointed with myself when I have to reach out without expecting a person to be saved by the grace of God.
Because, I realised that's when I have relied on myself all along.
Do not get me wrong.
The 2 aspects mentioned above about Commitment and Conviction are tremendously important.
However, without an utmost dependency and TRUST in the Holy Spirit in reaching out, all I do will be futile.
I have experienced this personally and it is so true.
In fact, a person who is ENTIRELY submitted to the Holy Spirit's guidance to do the work of God to reach out, will be guided to commit to the 2 areas mentioned above, even without the person's own knowledge.
In any case,I have discovered for many, many occasions when God Himself gave answers to questions posed to me, and I answered and convinced the seeker instantly despite not having any prior knowledge of the subject asked. I was amazed each time at how God intervened.
A heart which truly is able to reach out and touch the heart of another pre-believer with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is a Christian's heart that is completely SURRENDERED to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
posted by Si'er @ Tuesday, July 26, 2005
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