This clearly was not the attitude of the Apostle Paul. We are eager to share our faith, but not willing to share in their lives. Them" attitude in our relationships with uncommitted peers. We also encounter that problem back on the ground, in the everyday marketplace. In my zeal to be witnessing, I had failed to be a good witness. I had been totally insensitive to him, treating him as a project rather than a person. In Joseph Aldrich’s excellent book Lifestyle Evangelism, he includes two simple but powerful statements that summarize this type of situation: "We must be Good News before we can share Good News," and "People don't care how much we know until they know how much we care." On the plane, seated next to the stranger, I had failed to demonstrate that I was good news or that I cared about him. In Acts 1:8, Jesus said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses." That is perhaps the greatest weakness of evangelism in the workplace today: We think evangelism is something we do in fact, evangelism is a result of what we are. It would seem that the Christian witness today consists of a neatly packaged system or method-"one size fits all"-for condensing the gospel message into a few choice Scripture passages suitable for instant conversions.Ĭertainly there are many methods that can help us to clearly communicate the good news of Jesus Christ, but we need to remember the Lord never asked us to do witnessing. But somehow, in our twentieth-century approach to evangelism, we have distorted the meaning of witnessing. Of course, Scripture commands us to be witnesses for Christ. My motives were pure, but my method of "witnessing" left much to be desired. Although the man was not a Christian, God had used him to teach me an important lesson. It was as if the man had hit me over the head with a two-by-four! He had sensed that my objective was to witness to him, whether he was interested or not. "I was just wondering," he responded, "are you asking me something, or are you telling me something?" Halfway through the second page, which told about man’s sin problem, I noticed the businessman push back in his seat.
![bible thumper meaning bible thumper meaning](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1E_o_jn-Hs8/VzNqPvLk5NI/AAAAAAAACLI/kWYJ2DVyQA4zDk0DWZXsQ6FyC_lf3O7gwCLcB/s1600/jesuslotus.jpg)
I pulled out a little tract I had placed conveniently in my suit-coat pocket, turned to the first page and began to read it to him. "I have a little booklet here that I believe will explain. "Well, I'm not sure what you mean," he replied. "Are you interested in spiritual things?" I inquired. Determined to talk to this man about the Lord, I reached into my apostolic arsenal and pulled out a question that I felt would arouse his curiosity. Our flight was ending and it was evident the man did not know Jesus Christ.
![bible thumper meaning bible thumper meaning](https://img0.etsystatic.com/109/0/10785744/il_570xN.982287296_6a8g.jpg)
Our conversation consisted of the usual small talk of strangers who find themselves seatmates. My seat assignment put me next to another businessman. On one occasion, heading home from a meeting of dynamic Christian businessmen, I was so enthused that I felt compelled to tell someone about Christ before getting off the plane.
![bible thumper meaning bible thumper meaning](https://titus2homemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/notashamed.jpg)
![bible thumper meaning bible thumper meaning](https://64.media.tumblr.com/cfdb7ed3ed7dad727b6377f821f4a4b1/c683e9f1a62bfd00-23/s500x750/d9e59b28aff0909d9cb3854fa1fa759fd08673fc.png)
I was the classic Bible-thumper, the gospel grenadier. My first attempts at sharing my faith were dismal failures. You spend nearly half your waking hours with the people at your job.