Going to the Doctor

Guest post by Dan Navarra    

I’ve often thought about the sense of urgency with which Christians live their lives in this great country of ours.  Over time, we’ve lost our edge.  Why don’t people share their faith anymore?  I think there is a lost appreciation of the balance one must have in knowledge and technique when it comes to sharing faith that is creating a massive hole in the growth of churches around the country.

I remember a story about a man and his son.  The man was a pastor who loved to share his faith everywhere he went and his son was about six or seven years old.  One day, the father was taking his son to a Giants game in San Francisco from the Eastern side of the Bay.  Once aboard BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), the public’s train service in the Bay Area, the father began to talk with one of the men aboard the train.  As the conversation progressed, the father began to share his testimony.  After a while of talking, the father asked the man he had been sharing with what his religious background was.

The man replied, “Well, I guess I’m a Christian.  Like, I go to church on Sunday’s, and believe what the preacher says when I’m there.”

The young child who had been watching the conversation the entire time chimed in, “Well gee mister; I sure hope you die on a Sunday!”  I can just imagine the look on the bewildered man’s face!

This young child had the knowledge: you can’t be a Sunday Christian and expect to enter into paradise.  This young child also lacked the technique necessary to share the knowledge in a way that brought the unsaved man to place of confession, repentance, forgiveness, and ultimately life change.

On the knowledge side of things every Christian must be able to share their own conversion story.  Even if it was a story of praying in bed with mommy and daddy as a six year old, we still need to be able to have a testimony to why we have the faith we have (1 Peter 3:15).  Further more, every Christian needs to know the Gospel in its simplest form: that Christ was crucified, buried, and then three days later rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).  Those are the first two tools we all need to have in our toolbox if we want to share our faith.

A lot of people drop the ball on the technique side of things.  The vast majority of Christians know the Gospel and have some vague resemblance of a testimony.  But if I have tools in my toolbox, but don’t know how to use them, can I actually make anything of substance? Absolutely not.

A few things about technique, let me introduce to you four doctors to illustrate the above point: 

1.     The first doctor is Doctor Steve. Steve is a doctor who runs around the hospital yelling, “YOU’RE GOING TO DIE, YOU’RE GOING TO DIE! YOU’RE ALL REALLY SICK AND INFECTED!”  He has an incredible sense of urgency to tell patients that there is death coming, but never tells them why in a way they can understand.  Is Steve a good doctor? 

2.     Then there’s Doctor Jeff.  Jeff likes to talk to people at the grocery story when he’s shopping and tell them that they should come by the hospital sometime when they find it convenient and hang out with him because they have all you can drink free coffee and a great social club on Wednesday nights.  Is Jeff a good doctor?

3.     The third is named Doctor Mike.  Mike is the doctor who, wherever he goes wants to hear your story, get to know you on a personal level, and always be tolerant of the disease his patients have.  After all, Mike would never want the disease to come between him and his patient’s relationship.  Yet he never offers a solution to the disease his patients have because he’s afraid they may stop coming to see him if he brings up their disease.  Is Mike a good doctor? 

4.     The fourth doctor is Doctor Greg.  Greg is the doctor who has good bedside manners.  He is personable, yet honest.  He has a deep care not just for his patients, but also for their families and friends.  Greg knows that he has to deliver some bad news to his patients who are infected with a serious disease, and he takes that task very seriously: after all, it’s the job the hospital has asked him to perform.  With all the precautions taken to make sure that the patient is cared for and encouraged, Greg shares that there is a disease infecting his patient, but also offers the patient medicine and a cure.  He even calls after the medicine is given and follows up on the patient to make sure the medicine is still being taken and doing its job.  Is Greg a good doctor?

As you, Christians, walk through life, have a sense of urgency, but the technique necessary to care for the patients God has entrusted to you.  Give them medicine.  Give them Jesus.

(Dan Navarra is the Minister to Students for REALM Student Ministries at Trinity United Presbyterian Church.  I have had the privilege of working with Dan in various ministries, STAND being one, I can’t wait to continue working with him. You can follow him on twitter, and find him on Facebook.  Also, follow his blog, Just Another Day In Paradise)