Leadership Thought: Sharing the Bad News Before Sharing the Good News

Dear Friend,

The late pastor and author Tim Keller writes: "We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared to believe, yet  at the same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope."

Sharing the gospel with people who fail to accept their flawed and sinful nature is often a challenge. Such people feel little need for a Savior because they perceive themselves to be basically good. They are managing their lives just fine on their own, and they have no need for any outside help.

Such people find it hard to be open, honest, and vulnerable because for them such admission is  a sign of weakness, and acknowledging weakness or admitting need is unacceptable.

For them the gospel is bad news because it reminds them of who they really are-flawed and floundering sinners in need of a Savior.

To witness to them often makes them angry and puts them on the defensive. "Who are you to suggest I might need someone or something to change my life?". 

Too often I have made the mistake of pressuring persons like this to make a decision when the soil of their heart was still hard and they were not yet ready to receive the Savior, and in doing so I only made it harder for the next person who would witness to them.

In such cases, we need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and step back and trust that the seed of faith will be planted by someone else at some distant time and place.

We must remember the words of Paul who writes, "The Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted a seed, Apollos watered it, But God made it grow. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor, for we are God's fellow workers; You are God's field." 1 Corinthians. 3: 2-9.

Yours in faith,

Tom