You may be wondering that very question. There are many ways to do it, but it’s important that you donate your time or money to a reputable source. For a few related ideas, see today’s post (and the associated comments) from the Southern Hills Church of Christ blog.
Category Archives: Obedience
The knock at your door — how do you respond?
You’ve been looking forward to this for the last 5 days. Now it’s Saturday and you’re settling down with that book you’ve been meaning to read. Just when you kick your shoes off and get comfortable, you hear a knock at the door. Sorta sounded like the way the FedEx lady knocks when she has a delivery. What a surprise when you open the door and there are two 20 year-old “elders” in white shirts, black ties, and black name tags. You really want to get back to your “book time” that you so deserve, but you always feel guilty for dismissing them quickly, as you have so many times in the past.
What do you do? I’m sure there’s not a person reading this who hasn’t had to make that decision. I’m also thinking I’d not be far off if I suggested that probably three quarters of us (or more) just want to get the uninvited guests on their way as soon as possible.
I don’t have any research data on this at all, so this is just a hunch, but here’s what I believe:
- We know we should treat them with kindness and respect, and certainly not be rude.
- Many of us have felt guilty for practically slamming the door in their face in the past.
- We want to be able to “let our light shine” (Matthew 5:16), but don’t really know how to get the conversation started.
- Although we feel confident in our own faith, we feel really uncomfortable because we’re not exactly sure what they believe.
- Therefore, we’d rather not say anything than to be in a situation where they say something to us that we know is wrong, but makes really good sense, and we just don’t know how to respond. We’re afraid of looking foolish, looking like we’re not really dedicated Christians, or of speaking up but saying the wrong thing.
There could easily be several dozen posts on the subject of personal evangelism, but let’s just be satisfied for today with a few thoughts.
Peter instructs us to “always be prepared to give an answer to those who ask us about our faith” (1 Peter 3:15), but what exactly does that mean? Does that mean we need to be ready to quote scripture, giving book chapter & verse, whenever people on our doorstep tell us about “a new covenant”? Certainly that’s a goal, but I don’t think that’s what Peter means.
First and foremost, you need to be so familiar with the truth that when you’re faced with a counterfeit, you’re able to recognize it immediately. You certainly don’t have to be an expert in someone else’s faith in order to be a faithful witness of your own, but you do have to know the truth well enough to be able to spot a phony.
Secondly, don’t be afraid of saying “I don’t know but I’ll find out”. It doesn’t make you look any less faithful or any less of a Christian if you have to admit you don’t know how to answer their questions.
Third, the only way you get any better at anything is by practice. The first time you engage these doorstep visitors in conversation, you’ll probably feel a bit uncomfortable, but the more practice you allow yourself, the better at it you’ll be. And you’ll no doubt learn and strengthen your faith in the process!
“The Noticer”, by Andy Andrews
That’s the title of a book I started reading over the weekend. It’s actually a fairly short book, but with other things stealing my time, it’s taken me a while to finish it.
Part fiction, part nonfiction, it’s taken a good bit from the experiences of the author, who lost both parents as a teenager and was homeless — living beneath a pier. The Noticer is a man known simply as “Jones”. It’s not really correct to say that Jones changed the author’s life. More correct would be to say Jones caused the author to change his outlook on everyday situations, and that’s what changed his life.
Here’s one of Jones’ tidbits:
“Here, for you, young man, is a law of the universe—one of many, to be sure, but one that is especially applicable to your life at present. Remember, whatever you focus upon, increases.” [emphasis the author’s]
Jones explains:
“When you focus on the things you need, you’ll find those needs increasing. If you concentrate your thoughts on what you don’t have, you will soon be concentrating on other things that you had forgotten you don’t have—and feel worse! If you set your mind on loss, you are more likely to lose…But a grateful perspective brings happiness and abundance into a person’s life.” [emphasis the author’s]
One way Jones causes us to think about interpersonal relationships is to explain the “four major dialects that we use to convey and feel loved.” Here are the four:
- Spoken words of approval
- Favors and deeds
- Personal contact
- Quality time
I’ll just pass those along without comment other than that we all feel loved in different ways. If we limit the way we convey love to only the way we most feel loved, we’ll fail much of the time.
This book is very biblical, but it’s not based on scripture; it’s based on experience. It’s a book that would be at home on any Christian’s bookshelf, but don’t let it spend too much time there; read it first, share it, and if you’re lucky enough to get it back, read it again. Then put it on your bookshelf!
The Noticer, © 2009 by Andy Andrews. Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.
Video of the author’s interview with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts