Pre-Evangelism: Growing Perspective Through Asking Questions
Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion . . . (Luke 7:11-13).
Everyone has a backstory. Are we willing to listen? If we are, it might just change our heart.
Every week I frequent the same local establishment. By doing so, I often bump into the same people over and over again. One man that I frequently sit next to makes crass comments, hates most people, and seems just plain angry at the world. I began asking questions and listening. Week after week I learned his story. He’s had a lot of loss.
Has my time with him and his crassness rubbed off on me forcing me to backslide into a perverse heathen? No. Has his anger and expletives driven me to move seats? No. Has his story repelled me? Quite the opposite. It has broken my heart for him. I want not only to sit by him at this establishment, but I want him sitting by me at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The good news of Jesus should change our heart toward our neighbor no matter who our neighbor might be or their behavior. Often, we act as though our neighbor should act Christianly even when they are not a Christian. That’s like wanting and expecting a dog to meow when it’s not a cat. A person who does not know Jesus acts out of what they, by nature, are. They are trapped in their unchanged heart until and if God changes their heart. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:16).
If our hearts are not changing in a compassion for people trapped in their sin nature, we need to question our nature. Has it been changed? Is it changing? Are we growing more compassionate rather than more isolated from others unlike us?
Philippians 2: 3-5 reads,
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus . . .
The Lord, through Paul, calls us to take an interest in others. Maybe this can mean that we should listen to others with ears to hear rather than needing to always speak. Maybe by being open to ask questions and listen we can hear more clearly the cries of those who need Jesus. Maybe this listening will transform us into a people who love God and love our neighbor. In her book, The Six Conversations, Heather Holleman writes,
Instead of serving others with my words to encourage and comfort, I only served myself and thought about what I could gain from a conversation, not what I could lovingly give.
In Matthew 9, we are told that when Jesus “saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Is that our growing heart? If not, evangelism (explaining the good news of Jesus) can be merely a notch in our self righteousness belt or a check mark in our religious notes. When we truly see and grasp the harassment and helplessness of a person trapped in their sin nature, our heart expands to become a wide plain for our words and actions toward them.