Saturday, February 12, 2011

I feel guilty about your guilt

A friend and I had a healthy debate about how to share the gospel with a young adult we know.
I thought it fine to convey a sense of urgency, because we never know what tomorrow brings. My friend thought we should plant seeds but wait longer to talk about a personal commitment. In the end, my friend did proceed to meet the young adult and explain personal salvation, but felt my comments had "guilted" her into it, rather than encouraging her to seek God's timing.

I did second guess myself about being overly aggressive, but still felt there's never a bad time to explain the Gospel. And my friend second guessed herself because she realized she could have spoken up about the gospel more often, before I ever mentioned it. We both acknowledged our flaws in this - and give God the Glory for whatever He accomplishes amidst our imperfection!

In true e-fashion, we "texted" parts of our conversation on this, while the apostle Paul wrote about a similar experience to his friends on parchment. It sounds familiar!

2 Corinthians Chapter 7 verses 8-10
"Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."

What do you believe?

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