The Importance of Pacing Yourself When Leading People Towards Christ

I LOVE leading and I LOVE making disciples.

It's one of those passions where you could just do it for eternity because it is such a joy. Not to discount the difficulties it brings, but it really is a lot of fun.

I recently came across this little piece of advice in a book I'm reading. In short, it was basically "lead people at their own pace."

Many times, I (and if you are anything like me, YOU) have charged ahead with our passion, drive, and seemingly unending energy towards our goals, all the while intending to bring certain people with us on the journey. But when we get to our goal, we look back and it appears everyone has given up because they couldn't keep up with the pace at which we charged forward.

You been there?

I have...

Many times.

I remember one particular example.

I had led this girl who knew nothing about the Christian faith to Christ over the course of four one-hour meetings (hint hint). Once I had, I moved on and tried to find someone else to lead to Christ, missing out on the value of making a self-sustaining believer. A few months later, her faith dwindled out was gone under the lack of discipleship and good example.

Realization hit.

I had gone too fast...

And there was no going back.

How do we avoid creating this demoralizing and difficult scenario?

JOG, DON'T SPRINT.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are times in life to sprint, but that is ten percent of the time. The other ninety percent, we need to be patiently jogging alongside those who are weaker than us. This is what Paul has to say on the matter.

"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves." Romans 15:1

This has two main applications.


1. Leading People to Christ

When working with someone to help them learn about the Christian faith for the ultimate goal of seeing them give their life to Jesus, understand that more often than not, there pace is going to be different than yours.

Take it upon yourself to give them what they need to hear and know, not what you would like to tell them. Learn about who they are, where they are at in the process of surrendering, and from there, with prayer and discernment, decide before meeting what some things they need to understand are. Not always, but often times what they need to hear at this stage is painfully basic.


2. Discipling People who Know Christ

When working with someone to teach them what it looks like to live a Christian life and dedicate every area of their life to Jesus, pacing is equally important. Realize, in most cases, this is not going to be a two month process, but usually a several year, if not a life-long journey.

You will be disappointed at times. They will not be completing the challenges you asked of them, they will not be moving at the pace you desired.

Remember though, as long as there is any amount of forward momentum, no matter how small, YOU are making a difference.


Just....


Pace yourself.

The 1 Needed Realization to Stop Sinning

I keep sinning.

And I'm sick of it.

Seriously....seriously...sick of it.

Let's talk.

Sometimes I wonder, why, if I am a saint now who has the Holy Spirit and the very righteousness of God, do I still sin? Not only do I still sin, but I sin willingly, consciously, and consistently!

I've often found myself wondering at if I am a true believer because I can't seem to let go of my sin struggles and be a holy and righteous person, so what gives? Why can't I (and I'm willing to bet, YOU) quit sinning, are we doing something wrong, or was God's plan for us to be committed to Him, but still dominated by our sin life?

What have we tried already that hasn't worked?

Stopping.

We have tried stopping. We have tried committing to never sinning again cold-turkey. Did it work?

Nope.

Why?

Because usually when we just stop cold-turkey, we are addressing the symptom, not the source. You see, our sin struggles are not the issue. They are simply a symptom of the issue.

Romans 1:18 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth."

Romans chapter 1 discusses the fact that every person, deep down inside their soul, is aware of almighty God. It then goes on to say that unrighteousness suppresses that truth.

Did you catch that?

Your sins suppress the truth of God inside of you.

I'm not talking about other people seeing you sin and the truth being suppressed in some third person sort of way. I'm talking about YOU.

When you sin, you suppress what you know to be true about God.

Well, that begs the question, what does it mean to suppress? Think about a gun with a silencer (or suppressor) on it. You've seen the movies, why do they have a suppressor on their gun? So that no one else hears the gunshot. So that it quiets the truth of what is happening.

Now apply this to your own life. Realize that not only do your sins suppress your ability to feel the reality of God in your life, but you sin in order to suppress the reality of God in your life.

Why?

Because you don't realize how good the reality of God in your life is.

The problem with sin isn't the sin itself. The problem is that is quiets the truth inside you.

Ultimately, a love problem. A problem with not realizing God's love for you because it has been suppressed for so long. 

You don't have a lust problem, a drug problem, a marriage problem, an alcohol problem, a gossip problem.

YOU have a LOVE problem.

So how do we stop sinning? How do break the pattern of sin that we seriously hate?

Seriously...through LOVE.

We stop creating a habitual sin by stopping the suppression of the truth inside of us and realizing the love God has for us.

God is infinitely more interesting, more flattering, more loving, than any sin you could indulge in. But until you experience the reality of that, you will continue suppressing the truth.

But know this.

God is better. 

The First Step to Telling Someone About Jesus

So you wanna help people come to know Jesus?

Great!

I'm here to help.

How are you supposed to persuade someone to come to know Jesus? Well, there isn't any magic formula (and theologically speaking, God brings people to himself using us, we don't really do a whole lot), but practically speaking, we want to know what the best things to say to someone is when they are thinking about accepting Jesus into their life.

Many people will tell you that you should study Christian apologetics (the defenses of the Christian faith).

But guess what...

It doesn't work.

Why?

Because people don't reason their way to God, they have an experience with God. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity talks about how man is unlikely to  "reason themselves to God," but rather it is more likely that they have an encounter with God which surpasses reason.

Apologetics is good for teaching people who are ready to believe, but not for bringing the unbeliever to faith in Christ.

So where does that leave us?

Right here.

"For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." - 1 Corinthians 1:17

Imagine that you were bringing news to your parents that you are going to have a baby (or your significant other is for all you men out there), you might try to reveal the news in a clever way, but the reality is, if you simply told them that you were going to have a baby, the same amount of excitement would be instilled.

Why?

Because it's not the way the news is presented that makes it powerful, but the news itself.

That is the way the gospel is.

The gospel does not need to be (in fact, it shouldnt!) presented with "words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power," but rather presented as you would any exciting news.

You wouldn't reason with someone that there really is a baby in your stomach (women, that is), you would simply say "here are my experiences, thus there is a baby in my stomach." We should do the same with the gospel.

"Here are my experiences, thus faith in Jesus is satisfying."

Share YOUR faith. Share YOUR experiences. Share YOUR passion.

Only when people see YOUR excitement about the gospel, will the gospel seem more real than ever before.

Experience is more powerful than reason.

So stop reasoning, and start experiencing.