“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” I Peter 3:15
We’ve all heard the saying – the proof is in the pudding. The original version of the saying is the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The meaning of the saying is we must try out food in order to know whether it is good.
So, what does this interesting saying have to do with evangelism? Everything! As evangelists, we are constantly looking for ways to share the Gospel. However, if we are honest with ourselves, most of us like being able to share the Gospel with a huge crowd because, as evangelists, we want to reach as many people at one time as possible. No shame in that – it’s just how most of us are wired.
During this coronavirus craziness, we have an amazing opportunity to evangelize in a new way. As our festivals, conferences, and church services are cancelled, we have the opportunity to show the “proof is in the pudding.” In other words, show that we are truly living and believing everything we have been preaching.
In 1 Peter 3:15, we learn the importance of giving an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope we have – with gentleness and respect. As extraverts and public speakers, we don’t usually have a problem “giving an answer.” But really, the most important part of this verse is to give a reason for the HOPE we have—with GENTLENESS and RESPECT.
So, what’s my point? To show the world the proof is in the pudding, our new evangelistic strategy must be to BE, LIVE, and DISPLAY all that we have been preaching from the stage for so many years. Should we have been doing this anyway? Of course! But right now, we have no choice. We can’t be distracted by the next event, the next fundraiser, and planning the next trip.
We have no choice but to be at home and BE. So, how can we employ this new evangelistic strategy of “the proof is in the pudding”?
- SPEND TIME WITH THE FAMILY: By not being distracted by all our ministry events, our focus can be on our kids and spouses. We can cook, watch movies, and play games with them. We all preach that the family is the most important place to evangelize, so let’s practice what we preach.
- USE SOCIAL MEDIA: There are some negative posts flying around right now. Let’s be the opposite. Let’s post positive messages, scriptures, quotes, and videos. The main thing is to be the opposite of what we see the world doing.
- REACH OUT TO OTHERS: As evangelists, sometimes because we are always giving so much of ourselves at events, when we come home, we tend to isolate—at least I have been known to do that. Well, we might be at home for a while. We don’t know when our next festival, church service, or conference might be. So let’s get creative. Call or Face Time that friend you haven’t seen in a while. Or even better, pick up some groceries for the senior citizens down the street.
The bottom line is, let’s show the world the proof is in the pudding. That we can what live what we preach. That we can give hope with gentleness and respect. The times are a-changing, my friends, but God never changes. We know he is the same yesterday, today and forever. We can’t continue our planned trips, festivals and church services, but no one said we couldn’t evangelize. We just might have to get a little creative.
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