Welcome to the Victory Blog

When was the last time you had any real, meaningful interaction with someone who is un-churched or not a believer? Has it been a day? A week? A month? Longer? Far too many of us in the church today have little or no meaningful contact with those outside the church on a regular basis. We’ve gotten so caught up in our church life that we’ve become largely un-relatable to the lost. Studies show that the longer we’ve been in church, the less likely we are to interact with unbelievers regularly in any meaningful fashion.

This is not the kind of life Jesus lived, nor is it the kind of life we, as believers, are called to. Jesus’ whole lifestyle involved interacting with lost people on a daily basis – not every once in a while, but regularly. He often sat and ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. They seemed to be irresistibly drawn to Him – so much so that the religious leaders despised Him for it. What was it that drew these non-religious outcasts to Jesus while at the same time repulsed the religious “insiders” of his day?

The answer is LOVE. In Matthew 22, Jesus talked about the two greatest commandments: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is the key. The reason why we don’t draw people to Christ is that we love ourselves more than we love our neighbor. Think about it. Where is our focus on the weekend? At work? When we drive through our neighborhoods? The truth is: we’ve built our whole lives around ourselves. And, we’ve surrounded ourselves with the comfort and familiarity of other church goers. Honestly, how many of us will find ourselves tomorrow sitting with “tax collectors and prostitutes” as Jesus so often did?

Love your neighbor as yourself. Once you discover this key, it totally unlocks the evangelist in you. Now, you may fear getting into a conversation with a lost person and not knowing what to say. Don’t worry, people don’t get saved based on what we say; they get saved based on the fact that God begins to draw their hearts to Him. Lost people don’t need a bunch of Scripture thrown at them. Yes, it’s great to know Scripture, but that’s not what opens the door for most people. Actually, God often begins to draw their hearts because we are simply loving them.

How do you love them? The same way you love your family: spend time with them; do things with them that show interest in them; build a relationship that says, “You know what? I like you. I care about you, and I want to be around you.” Be able to stand around people that are drinking, for instance, without getting all religious and uptight. You don’t have to be like the world, just be in the world enough to let the world know that you care about them…and that you’re not too good for them! The point is: be around lost people and just love them. This is how you will win people to Jesus. You don’t have to preach. Show love. Over time, they’ll begin to open up and ask questions. When you start being real and talking with people like a real person, you start being relatable.

This week, ask God to fill you with His supernatural love for the lost – the kind of love that loves people all the more when they’re harder to love. And, ask Him to bring you into contact with people who will come to know Him through your love for them. Then, love them! Don’t give up. Be REAL! Start living a relevant, engaging, authentic life!