Daily Devotional for Tuesday, October 10

The Futility of Religious Arguments

“And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them,” Mark 9:14.

If you have been on social media lately, you know people love to argue. Sometimes they argue about stuff that people never even said. A person could write a post about how they like pepperoni pizza, and someone will show up asking why they hate puppies. Puppies happen to be this person’s favorite topic, so they are going to argue about puppies.

Jesus and His disciples knew a bit about this also, because it seemed people were always looking for an argument with Jesus. Specifically, they were looking for ways to trick Him and trip Him up. Do you know that people will do that to you also? It is not unusual to attempt to present the gospel to a person only to have them drag the conversation off into the weeds with many irrelevant questions. What about this? What about that? Sometimes the questions may turn into personal attacks on the witness. For the most part, people do not really want to hear the message of sin, repentance and forgiveness. Any conversation is better than that.

How do we counter this? It is not difficult. First, remember that you are not the message. That covers what to do when the talk turns to insults. We do not have to be abused, but then again we can let stuff just roll off of us. We never have to defend ourselves against every slur. Next, remember what the message is. While we certainly need to be ready to talk about questions people may have, we ought to always be looking for a way to get the conversation back where it belongs, and that is on Jesus Christ. This may seem difficult, but it is not. Before you witness to any person, be prayed up, and the Holy Spirit will lead you the right way.

 
JUST A THOUGHT: The gospel is our message. Let everything else just support that message. 

Wally Fry