“Sitting silent wearing Sunday best/The sermon echoes through the walls/A great salvation through it calls to the people/who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls.” These are the lyrics to a song entitled “Love Song for a Savior” By Jars of Clay. It is 2:21 AM so you may assume I picked this song at random to whip out 250 words and somehow tie in Jerram Barrs' The Heart of Evangelism. I’ll blame that on The Holy Spirit.
Evangelism is such a touchy subject to write about because the meaning will dramatically change from person to person. Yet, in The Heart of Evangelism Barrs exposes our role as Christians in how to approach evangelism without passing out flyers that read “the end is near.” As I was playing “Love Song for a Savior,” the words “love” and “song” really jumped out. And, as if God comically mapped this epiphany out, my book was open to Chapter 32: Revealing the Heart’s Secrets. Barrs reveals evangelism also involving knowing the heart of a person citing “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” where Jesus is tested. We cannot get into heaven by just picking up the Bible and expect a set of guidelines to follow. Instead, we must know and love The Lord our God and sustain a personal relationship with Him.
Essentially, we must fall in love with Him. Our mission as evangelists is complete when we successful introduce God to someone as a friend, not as a ticket to heaven. When we truly understand the love God has for us and the love we have for Him that is when we understand the world.
2 comments:
I love Jars of Clay and their song, "Love Song for a Savior." I especially like your comment about introducing people to Christ as a friend and not just as a savior. I think this allows people to have a more personal relationship, and not view him has a "Get out of jail free card." We all know that these are one of the most worthless monopoly cards in the game, and I don't want people to view Jesus Christ as worthless.
What other JoC songs do you like?
this is beautiful
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