Read: Romans
1:13-20
For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth. Romans 1:16
How
to Win Friends and Influence People, written by Dale Carnegie and first
published in 1936, is one of the first best-selling self-help books. The book
was a result of a fourteen-week course in which he taught principles on how to
better yourself by bettering the people around you. While there are some good
ideas presented in the book to help someone make more money, I think some of
those same principles apply to helping Christians win souls.
One of Carnegie’s first ideas is to become
genuinely interested in other people. That point is vital for Christians to
grasp if they are to be effective in winning people to Christ. It is hard to
have a desire to see people saved if you don’t even care what happens to their
soul. Imagine those people spending an eternity in a torturous hell – that
should help you develop a genuine burden for their souls. It is easy to see
people in their physical conditions of helplessness; but when you look at
people in light of eternity, it will give you a burden to see them won to
Christ. Think of it this way: If I don’t tell them how to be saved, then they
will likely never know how to get to Heaven. If I truly care for those people,
I will do my absolute best to make sure that they have an opportunity to be
saved.
A second principle that would help us win
souls is to call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly. We certainly should
not hide the truth, and I am not suggesting we compromise; but many people are
just genuinely misguided. If they knew the truth, they would believe it.
However, because of how they grew up or other circumstances, they are still in
darkness. Jumping down someone’s throat and calling him a horribly wicked
person will only make him turn away from Christianity. Befriend him and kindly
share the truth, then let the Holy Spirit do His work in convicting in his
heart.
On the flip side, we should not let the
world’s low view of other religions keep us from doing our duty in winning
souls. Many people run when they see a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness coming. Fear
of being lumped into the same category with them should not scare us away from
delivering the truth in love. We have been given a job – to win souls to Jesus
Christ. Let us use every advantage we can to help them come to the Saviour.
Quote of the day: “Our great object of glorifying God is to be mainly
achieved by the winning of souls.” -
Charles Spurgeon
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