9.26.2007

Dealing Responsibly With Anxious Souls-#1

This new series of posts is dedicated to Christ Jesus, the only Lord and Savior. In these posts, I hope to inspire thought, discussion, and practice around responsible evangelistic soul-care. We all know that leading a thirsty man to a dry riverbed could never satisfy his thirst. But, leading him to the never-failing "Fountain of living waters" will eternally quench his parched soul. So for you, which source will it be? The empty riverbed of man-centered tactics, or the saving oasis of Jesus Christ?

Complaining is easy. Finding solutions is more difficult. This is true even for (especially for?) Christians who are thinking about conversion counseling (i.e. witnessing). Have believers not become notorious for identifying the problems of decisionistic, 'I-can-do-it', Christianity? And rightfully so! Why is it then that guidance for those wanting to faithfully present the gospel, and represent the God of the gospel, have little help on which to lean?

It is one thing to lament the the erroneous theology of easy-believism that has been sweeping our land for quite some time. It is another thing altogether to seek the Lord's counsel in His Word in order to realize His revealed will for dealing responsibly with those whose souls are anxious for a remedy for their sin problem.

Too many are stating man's solution; "Repeat this prayer and you will be saved." Too few are stating God's solution; "Turn to GOD and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for He is GOD and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:22).


What is a child of God to do if he or she wants to lead someone else to faith in Jesus Christ (And every true Christian does desire to be used of God to do lead others to Christ!)? What are we to say in the 'moment of truth' when a soul is desiring to press into the kingdom of Christ, forsake sin and self, and rest in the Savior? What are we to do in that moment? To be certain, it is not the slickness of our words, or the winsomeness of our appeal that saves a soul. Yes, but in evangelism words are necessary. And the blame for wrong words is appropriately laid at our doorstep.

Some who become aware of our God-given responsibility to represent Him faithfully with our words will shrink back from being evangelistic at all for fear they may say the wrong thing. Silence, however, would be a greater crime.

With that, I invite you to join us in letting the hard work begin (er...continue) of finding God-pleasing solutions for our day's man-centered soteriological dilemma.

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First things first: We at Grace Church don't presume to have responsible soul-care figured out. But we are desiring to always be praying and laboring to become better soul-physicians. And God forbid that any of us cop-out of our evangelistic responsibility by employing the 'magic prayer' either to expedite the process, or because we are unwilling to seek counsel from God, His Word, and other faithful soul-physicians.

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The next six posts in this series will come from Robert Murray McCheyne (pictured). And, Oh friend does he ever have God-centered biblical help to offer!

"And this is eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true GOD and JESUS CHRIST whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).