I have an idea. When it's appropriate, and my daughter has "earned" a time out, I will say, "Now, honey, because of what you did, you have to go into time out, but, to show you what Jesus did for you on the Cross, Daddy's going to go into time out for you."
Of course, time out, to Daddy, sounds more like Heaven than Hell, so the planned illustration is far from perfect, but let's see if she gets the point.
Thinking of this has me thinking of more. What ways can we show family members and co-workers the Cross? Every effective message relies on illustrations. Say a co-worker fouled up a project and now has to stay late and cancel much anticipated plans for the night. Would it be appropriate to say, "I want to show you what I say I believe about Jesus and the Cross. Not to sound weird, but would you honor me by allowing me to do this work for you? It's not about doing you a favor; it's about earning the right to have a conversation with you someday about faith. What do you think?"
It's hard to imagine it going that well, but who knows? This is the kind of thinking the millions of us who are Christians need to do more of, I think. I know I need to do more of it. We have to show what we're telling people. I don't mean the silly nonsense of, "I rather see a sermon, than hear it." This rubbish has "solved the problem" of witnessing and silenced the testimonies of far too many frightened Christians. No, I mean, "I want to see what I'm hearing, so I can understand what I'm hearing." No one is led to saving faith by the kind of mimes that some Christians claim to be. We must speak out loud with our mouths (or sign language) if we want to obey the Great Commission, but actions and words together are always louder and clearer than actions alone or words alone.
What do you think?
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