One of the reasons I\u2019ve always appreciated C.S. Lewis is that he understood there was a distinction between God and our words about him and, still more, our arguments for him.\u00a0 Would to God that more of the apologetics subculture (including the author of certain books written by the man married to my wife) internalized the wisdom and humility of his prayer:<\/p>\n
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
\nFrom all the victories that I seemed to score;
\nFrom cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
\nAt which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
\nFrom all my proofs of Thy divinity,
\nThou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.<\/p>\n
Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
\nOf Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
\nFrom all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
\nO thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
\nLord of the narrow gate and the needle\u2019s eye,
\nTake from me all my trumpery lest I die.<\/p>\n
One of the things I realized some years ago that rolled a great weight off my shoulders was that nobody has ever \u201cconverted\u201d another person to Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.\u00a0 We are children standing next to Dad while he works under the hood of the car on an engine we are too small to even see and could not understand if we did. Now and then, he asks for a wrench and we hand it to him and imagine we are \u201chelping fix the car\u201d.\u00a0 But in truth, he is doing it all and graciously making us participants in his work.\u00a0 Sometimes he says, \u2018Okay.\u00a0 Start her up\u201d and we turn the key and somehow it works.\u00a0 If we are wise, we say, \u201cDad fixed the car.\u201d\u00a0 If we are naive, we say \u201cMe and Dad fixed the car\u201d and if we are bloody fools, we say, \u201cI fixed the car.\u201d\u00a0 Evangelism is purely a work of grace.\u00a0 \u00a0We get to help and, if we can keep our egos out of the way, the Spirit is gracious enough to let our fumbles work to the good.<\/p>\n
The second most disastrous thing somebody can say is, \u201cI am a Christian because of so and so.\u201d\u00a0 If that is your reason, then you will face a grave spiritual crisis when so and so fails you\u2013as they surely will.\u00a0 Jesus alone is the reason for being a believer, not any mere mortal.<\/p>\n
The most disastrous thing somebody can say is, \u201cThat person is a Christian because of me.\u201d\u00a0 If you cultivate that blasphemous pride, you are headed for disaster, because sooner or later, you will fail them.\u00a0 If you want to do this work, make double damn sure that the people to whom you witness place their faith in Jesus and not in you.\u00a0 Make disciples of Christ, not fanboi of your precious self.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the reasons I\u2019ve always appreciated C.S. Lewis is that he understood there was a distinction between God and our words about him and, still more, our arguments for him.\u00a0 Would to God that more of the apologetics subculture (including the author of certain books written by the man married to my wife) internalized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1075,546],"class_list":["post-107791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lenten-thoughts","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n