After watching a Christian argue a moral point on CNN without ever mentioning the Bible or Jesus, I sent a tweet to the anchor of the segment. I apologized as a Christian that he hadn't heard a clear Christian viewpoint on the issue.
I'm not stupid. I knew this posting could lead to a Twitter war with strangers. So I made two commitments to myself regarding any response I would give:
- I will remain calm.
- I will always point to Jesus and the Bible
It took 18 minutes to put my resolve to the test.
Every time this opponent responded to my point, I was sure to always turn my response back to the salvation of Jesus. He got more heated. I continued to be slow to speak, always measuring my words carefully. My purpose was not to win the argument, but to give opportunity for Jesus to win the soul!
As I continued to share scriptural references with gentle and respectful tones, I noticed his responses coming quicker and with greater venom. Eventually he responded with a hateful and graphic representation of Christians.
If 26-year-old Heath had seen this, he would have responded with a flurry of keystrokes and a lot of "righteous anger". But 36-year-old Heath had nothing but sadness for this man. I stopped to pray for him. I posted a few more very sparing comments, continuing to share scripture and Jesus in an intentional way.
1 Peter 3:15 "...make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."
Who's to blame when a conversation goes bad between believers and unbelievers? OF COURSE lost people get defensive...it's defensiveness that keeps them from acknowledging their sin and need for a Savior. Don't meet their defensiveness with malice. Meet it with gentleness and respect, remembering that "such were some of you" without Jesus. Be the bigger person for the sake of the gospel.
So remember next time you get in a sour conversation with a sour person, be sure you're adding sugar to the conversational lemonade.
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