On the Necessity of Words

"Speak the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words."

Please allow me to dust off my soapbox.

First, a story:

There once was a man who decided he was really going to love his fellow laborers in cube world with Christ's love. He hoped that in that, they would really see Jesus. One particular gentlemen was going through a hard time with a messy divorce. After many weeks of talking with and caring for this man the man said, "You've been such a great help to me during this whole time. Can I ask you a question? Are you a vegetarian?"

This man had once known some nice vegetarians, and so this was his primary frame of reference for nice-ness. It wasn't Jesus or Christians, so when he has someone be nice to him, his assumption is not Christianity but rather vegetarian-ism.

Living a life of integrity and love is not evangelism. It's basic Christianity. The quote at the top captures something important--namely, that we have to have our lives cohesive with the message of Christ. But what it has become is the number-one cop-out for Christians to avoid sharing their faith.

Articulation of the gospel without a life that is integrated with the gospel message is hypocrisy. An integrated life without articulation is wishful thinking. Words are an essential part of the process.

There are three things that are true about evangelism: 1. People who aren't Christians tend to find it annoying, offensive, distasteful, and/or wrong. 2. Christians generally find it difficult, distasteful, or uncomfortable. 3. Jesus says to do it. Therefore, we've got to find ways to do un-obnoxious evangelism. But words must necessarily be a major part of it.