One of the cool things with which God has blessed me is the opportunity to narrate audio books. The most recent project is a book by Ed Silvoso titled, Prayer Evangelism. While in “normal life,” I really love to read (a passion my wife, Diana and I share) forgive me for admitting that after six or seven hours in a studio, reading in front of a microphone is more like a job than a pleasure.
But narrating page 39 of Prayer Evangelism, I was slammed, smacked, and convicted. So much so, that I took out my phone and took a picture of the iPad screen so I could refer to Ed’s words again. Here’s what he wrote:
We need to declare peace because we, as Christians, have been at war with the lost. Too often, “Repent or burn” is the banner under which we approach the unsaved of this world. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to strongly dislike sinners, and this soon becomes obvious to them.
I became aware of my own belligerence toward the lost the first time I tried to implement Luke 10 in our neighborhood. Instead of claiming the promises of God to deal with the problems I saw in my neighbors’ lives, I told God about everything that was wrong with these people. I talked to Him in disgust about the unwed mother and how she had to change because she was such a bad example to my daughters. I demanded that He do something about the couple who kept us awake at night with their arguing and fighting. I complained about the depressive neighbor whose front yard was a disgrace and a bane to real estate values on our block. And of course I did not forget about the teenager on drugs. I made it perfectly clear to the Lord what a detriment this young man was to our neighborhood.
All of a sudden, I sensed God saying, “Ed, I am so glad you have not witnessed to any of these yet.”
Surprised, I asked, “Lord, why is that?”
His reply was very sobering: “Because I don’t want your neighbors to know that you and I are related. I hurt when they hurt. I reach out to them. I constantly extend grace to them. I am the God who causes the sun to rise over the righteous and unrighteous alike. I love them. But you don’t. You resent them.”
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Ouch! I feel Ed’s pain. Because it’s my pain, my sin. And maybe it’s yours, too. It’s time to end the “wars”—all of them. It’s time to start the peace. Let’s quit judging unsaved people for acting unsaved! Let’s learn to give them Jesus’ favorite gift—mercy.
Acts 2:21, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”