I’ll call him Joe.
He is my friend. You almost certainly know someone like Joe…….you may be Joe.
Joe is a committed atheist.
He believes in science, Darwin, life, and death.
I believe in God, life, death, and paradise.
We share the belief in life and death. Our disagreement is fundamentally this:
Science and Darwin………..God and paradise
Dead black nothing……..eternity
Where we came from…….and where we are going.
Two different belief systems.
Our lives are the result of either an accident or a conscious, intentional act of creation……by an intelligent creator…….a creator who loves us and who wants us to be happy. We are either going somewhere…….or we are going nowhere.
Joe and I are both nice guys. With few exceptions, you can count on us to do “the right thing”. You could call us both righteous men. We both operate on a basic moral code. And, in fact, our moral codes are almost identical. In a word….we are good people.
But, in this one area, our belief systems are mutually exclusive……..and that means that one of us is wrong. Much like the Michigan/Ohio State football game. 50,000 passionate sincere people in red and a similar group in blue sit down together on a Saturday afternoon believing…….hoping…… that their team is going to win. Half of them will go away disappointed.
And so it is with Joe and me. We will both die someday…… probably in the next 10 or 20 years. And one of us will be disappointed. Either the lights will just go out for both of us……..or we will face eternity. And there is the rub. My eternity will be defined by joy and love……… Joe’s eternity will be very different. At best he will miss out on the joy and love.
I am comfortable with my future……both the next 10 to 20 years and what follows that. I am very uncomfortable with Joe’s future. I believe that God is uncomfortable with Joe’s future as well.
What to do?
For me………there is no risk for being wrong. For Joe……the risk is catastrophic. Because of the eternal implications, I want Joe to change his mind. I worry about Joe………a lot.
There are dozens of strategies that will not work:
Guilt
Nagging
The threat of hell
Quoting Bible verses
Leaving tracts in public restrooms
Spray painting “Jesus loves you” on somebody’s wall.
Miracles
Angels
Demons
Don’t you want to someday see Aunt Thelma again?
Reports of answered prayers
Healing
But…….there is one trick that can work.
I have heard it said that the surest sign of the presence of God…..is joy. And this is absolutely true. If you are a believer, then you will be joyful……no matter what the circumstances……NO MATTER WHAT. That joy is the surest way to draw others to God. You can count on the fact that people will act in their own best interests……almost always. If you are a Christian……you will be joyful……..non-christians will sense your joy……..and they will say to themselves. “I don’t know what he has……..but I want it”. Paradoxically, the more dire your personal circumstance……..the more powerful your witness of joy will be.
Your joy is the key to changing Joe’s mind. In a curious way, your joy is the key to Joe’s future.
If you are a Christian and you are not joyful……..then you need to look under the hood………because you are missing something.
And so are all of the “Joe’s” in your life.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Jesus, ESV
‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Jesus, ESV