In I Once Was Lost, Everts and Schaup unpack five thresholds postmodern skeptics usually cross on their way to faith in Jesus. I summarized them in a previous post and we looked at the first two thresholds here and here.
The third threshold is that skeptics must be open to change in their lives. The difference between curiosity about Jesus and changing in response to him is huge. For many, this is the most difficult threshold to overcome because it requires the skeptic to honestly evaluate past and present attitudes and behaviors in a new light and be willing to make a course correction.
How can we be good friends to a skeptic during this part of the journey?
1. Be patient. This kind of deep, inner work takes time.
2. Pray. There are unseen forces at work in the skeptic’s life that must be prayerfully opposed. We also must pray for wisdom so that we can do the next thing well.
3. Challenge as Jesus challenged. This might mean lovingly pointing out the contradictions in our friend’s worldview or encouraging them to try something new as an experiment or helping them connect the dots if they are confused or shocking them out of their complacency.
How have your friends helped you open up to making changes in your life?
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
Was just thinking about this – this morning.
One of our unfortunate limitations as people is that we don’t have the ability to tell weeds from wheat… – Jesus said don’t even try… just sow.
Difficult for people who want some way to measure progress and growth.
Question: what if we re-examined what it means to seek the Lord?
I think it would GREATLY impact the effectiveness of relational evangelism if believers were able to recognize when a person is seeking.
Seeking is messy – really really messy sometimes.
It seems offensive to weed inspectors.
Find comfort in the midst of other’s messy search processes.
Know who you are and let people search.
VERY VERY few people have had the ability to do this with me over the long haul – but the ones who’ve stuck with me in the mess of my searching are invaluable.