Tag Archive for: grace

When Helping Hurts

Have you ever shared something you thought would generate a huge response and the message fell completely flat?

It is often not the news itself that is the problem but how it is delivered or absorbed by the audience.

The desire to share the Gospel is good and reflects a heart for other people. However, how you do that is not the same for every person you meet. Some have less than positive personal experiences with church, religion or faith that influence how they will hear your message.  Others have no exposure or understanding of God, Jesus, or the Bible.

Different cultures around the world operate on different core emotions. Justice, guilt, and punishment can frame one person’s view. Another may have shame and fear clouding the lens they hear the Good News through. Using the wrong approach can leave someone feeling more confused and broken.

How we meet each person will affect their openness, interest, and desire for what we want to share.

Digital evangelism invites people to come with questions and have a conversation. Some Responders are so excited about the chance to share what they know, and how Jesus has saved them, that they forget the other person may have their own life issues or agenda of things they wish to discuss.  Others are so focused on being a good listener that they forget to transition the conversation and ask where Jesus fits in this person’s life.

Both examples are filled with good intentions, but each misses the need to balance good listening with the ultimate message of hope.  Every conversation is a God-ordained opportunity to share how Jesus changes everything. We must allow the Holy Spirit to guide each interaction, so we strike the right blend of listening, offering grace, and sharing God’s truth.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead each of your conversations and supply the right combination of listening and God’s love so each person receives it in the context that will move their heart and change their life.

The Language of Grace

The words we choose matter. This is especially true at a time where more communication is taking place digitally and without the benefit of looking at or hearing the people we are having conversations with.

We live in times where the truth of God’s Word is more frequently seen as narrow-minded, bigoted, or even hateful. It can be difficult to have conversations about sinful behavior or beliefs when someone is not open to God’s love and His way being best for us.  For some, they are even hoping to hear words of shame or condemnation so they can walk away thinking we are unloving and judgmental.

This means we each wield extraordinary power in the language we use to meet those seeking answers. It is easy to fall into the trap of speaking truth but doing it so bluntly and legalistically that it leaves someone discouraged and uninterested in our message.  However, we can fill others with life, hope, and peace when we are intentional with our words and speak blessing and encouragement into their lives.

Our goal should always be to express truth and love in gentleness as Christ did. We see in Luke 4 that people marveled at the gracious words spoken by Jesus. We see in scripture that gracious speech has several qualities. It lacks harshness, grumbling and sarcasm.  Gracious speech is filled with compassion and kindness. It is sensitive, thoughtful, and loving without compromising truth.

So many that come online are lost and without hope. We have an opportunity to speak life into their hopelessness. Focus on God’s love, forgiveness, and patience with us as broken sinners.

We should all follow Paul’s call.  Make the most of your chances to tell others the Good News. Be wise in all your contacts with them. Let your conversation be gracious as well as sensible, for then you will have the right answer for everyone. Colossians 4:5-6 (TLB)

We encourage you to seek God’s help in doing this and finding just the right words of hope, wisdom, and truth in each conversation.  Emphasize that God has a perfect design and better plan for how we live.  We want to reveal His true nature of love and compassion and we can do this lovingly while at the same time not condoning sinful behavior, poor choices, or mistaken beliefs. 

Every conversation is an opportunity to speak words of life. May you lean into God to help you share just the right words of forgiveness, grace, wisdom, and truth in each of your interactions.

The Challenge of Grace

Grace: noun

unmerited favor or divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification

Even the definition of grace can be difficult to wrap our arms around. Often it takes the experience of grace to bring the concept to life.

Each of us has had moments of pain, decisions we regret, and seasons where our spirit was crushed. The grace of God is what helped us move forward and realize we could change. With time, we even come to see how God often uses those challenging experiences for something good and to draw us nearer to Him.  As our faith matures, we lean into that grace and accept it as a truly special gift from God.

However, this message of grace is countercultural. Many people struggling in sin have a hard time believing it applies to them. The enemy uses everything he can to discourage and deceive those who are feel shame and guilt. Consequently, many people looking for help online struggle to accept God’s grace.

Obviously, online evangelism focuses on sharing the Good News and the Gospel message is one full of grace. We are both saved by grace through faith, but it is also an essential part of God’s character and how we grow our relationship with Him.

The most common reaction to this from unbelievers is one of exclusion and how that grace cannot possibly extend to “all I have done”. For this reason, it may be necessary to share specific stories and verses from scripture for this message to be fully appreciated and accepted. This means we must help guests understand they are not beyond God’s grace, and we all need it.

It is also often helpful to paint the picture of grace as a gift so those struggling can see it is not based on what we deserve, earn, or need to pay back. God’s grace requires no repayment or return by the recipient. It is a gift that is free to us although not to God who offers it. We need to lean into the countless examples of how God’s love, mercy and common blessings reflect His grace to us each day.

This concept of ongoing grace helps us share that favor does not stop once we are saved. God is gracious to us for the rest of our lives, working within and upon us. The Bible encourages us that grace:

  • provides us access to a relationship with God
  • justifies us before a holy God
  • changes how we see life and desire to live
  • encourages, comforts, and strengthens us

Grace is not something that is easy to grasp when you have been running from God and don’t know His true nature. But grace is often the concept that starts changing hearts and helping the lost come to see how Christianity and trusting Jesus are different than anything else the world offers.

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