Pilgrim Soldier

I started re-reading Geoff Ryan’s The Siren Call of a Dangerous God last night and read the following passage from the essay ‘The Mute Evangelist’:

I believe it means that proclamation evangelism cannot be the only strategy. In the end it does have to come down to words, but words well chosen and backed by the weight of the speaker’s life and actions. They cannot be the opening gambit or the main play, they are for clinching the deal. Actions speak louder than words - now more than ever.”

This pretty well sums up my thinking on the subject, although puts it far more eloquently than I ever could. I believe that if Christians are totally committed to following the path that Jesus trod and tells us we must tred as well, then the Holy Spirit will work in mighty ways and words will convict people of their sin and bring them under the saving grace of Jesus.

The problem though is fear. We’re afraid to make the sacrifices that are necessary in order to walk the path Jesus walked. We are afraid of what it will cost us and the discomfort that it will bring. It so much easier to live in the church’s comfort zone of obscurity that has been the norm for Christians for so long!

How do I know this? Because I know how frightened I am! I know the things that I am scared of giving up and want to hold onto. The crazy thing is that I’ve already given up so much for the Lord and He has honoured the sacrifice time and time again, yet I’m still afraid!