About a month ago I started working for Directv here in Missoula, MT. 2 days after I arrived in Montana I was offered a job as a technical support agent at Directv. I've been so grateful for God's provision for my family through this job. Well, although I was hired on day 2, I didn't start for about another 30 days.
Anyway, for the last 4 weeks I've been going through Directv's vigorous technical support training and it has been intense. One thing I like about Directv is their commitment to provide the best possible customer service possible. One of the ways that they seeks to accomplish that is by "building a relationships" with every customer that calls in. As a technical support agent, I need to get the customer in a place where they are willing to work with me in troubleshooting their technical issues. If they are not willing to partner with me in taking steps to troubleshoot, their issue doesn't get resolved and I'm not successful in my position. "The way that we get the customer willing to work with us", says my trainer, "is that we build a relationship with them." "A relationship" he says, "can be built within the first 30 seconds of the call." The way Directv sees it, a friendly tone and an interest in how the customer is doing is enough to build a relationship with the customer. I find this interesting.
One of the reasons this stands out to me is because of what I often hear from Christians about preaching the gospel. "I can't preach the gospel unless I have first built a relationship with someone" is the understanding of many Christians. The problem is that we don't think like Directv; we think a relationship is built over a period of weeks or even months. The problem with that is that neither we, nor the person we are sharing the gospel with is promised tomorrow. Back in Santa Fe, as I was street witnessing, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with a teenager who told me that he was "only 18 and why should he care about what happens when he dies". About two years later this same kid started working at the same place that I was working. I reminded him that I had talked to him about Jesus a couple years ago and he claimed that he didn't remember. Two days later he didn't show up for work because he had commit suicide the night before. I was grieved to see that 2 days before he died he still hadn't believed the gospel, but I was glad that I shared the good news of Jesus Christ with him while he was living. You see, I wouldn't have shared the gospel with that guy if I was waiting to "build a relationship" with him over a period of months. When I approached him in the Plaza of Santa Fe I built a relationship with him within the first 30 seconds of our conversation. I greeted him with a smile and I joked with him a bit, but I wanted him to know that I had some good news to share with him. He listened. He wasn't offended that he barely knew me. He actually thanked me for talking to him and said he would consider what I said.
I think that we, as Christians, can learn something from Directv. At Directv, I need to build a relationship with the customer so that they will be willing to work with me. They don't have to be my best friend, they just have to be willing to work with me to get their dish working. And as Christians, we don't have to make people our closest friends before we can share the gospel with them; we just need to get them to a point where they will hear what we have to say. It doesn't take long. A guy in a grocery store line, that doesn't know me from Adam, can tell me all about the idols that he worships and how I should worship those idols too (not in those terms)without taking 5 minutes to build a relationship with me. Why can't I tell Him about the true and living God that I worship and how that God loves Him and died so that He could be saved? Look, Jesus didn't say to go into all the world and build relationships so that maybe one day we can tell them about Jesus. He said to go into all the world and PREACH THE GOSPEL (Mark 16:15). Romans 1:16 says that the gospel is the POWER OF GOD unto salvation to everyone who believes. Why would we keep that power to ourselves?
Stop believing the lie that you have to earn the right to be heard; that you earn that right over weeks and months of "building relationship". Take it from Directv; "you can build a relationship with a person within the first 30 seconds of the conversation." Don't let unbiblical misconceptions prevent you from sharing the gospel because you think you haven't "earned the right" yet. Share it! Don't keep it quiet! How beautiful are the feet of those who PREACH THE GOOD NEWS! (Romans10:15) Now get out there and tell the people in your life that Jesus loves them and died so that they can be saved!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Replacing Awkward With Wisdom
Parenting is both the greatest blessing and the most difficult challenge I have ever experienced. I love my kids with a great love that is indescribable. My love for them is a comforting reminder of God's love for me! God refers to Himself as our Father and calls us His children in His word. He does that in order to illustrate for us how He loves us in a way that we can understand, although our understanding of earthly parental love falls short of fully depicting the love of God for His children. What a great truth! But parenting is also incredibly difficult. There are many things that a parent is called to do that the bible doesn't lay out in step by step instructions.
I'm sure all parents have different strengths and weaknesses, but one of my greatest challenges/weaknesses as a parent has been figuring out how to discuss difficult and awkward topics with my kids. I have recently become more aware of the urgency to discuss "difficult topics" with my kids as they are getting older so I've decided to do it. This past Saturday I took my 10 year old son, Caleb, out to coffee (he had a non-coffee drink) at Starbucks and we discussed topics like Jesus, our move to Missoula, school, friends, drugs, sex, and marriage. That's a pretty wide variety of topics for a casual Saturday morning at Starbucks, don't ya think? Interestingly enough, although these topics were somewhat awkward for me to bring up, they didn't seem to be the slightest bit awkward to Caleb. He talked very openly and honestly about his perspective on these things, the way people at school view these things, and how he wants to honor God with his life. I was greatly encouraged to hear a genuine distaste for ungodly perspectives on sex, dating, and marriage. Caleb is 10. Statistics say that most boys have been introduced to porn by that age. We discussed "gross pictures" and how we need to flee the scene if anyone tries to show us stuff like that. It was such a great eye opener to see how easy and un-awkward it was to discuss these things. As a matter of fact, Caleb really enjoyed our time and expressed desire to talk like that more often!
On a trip to the grocery store, my 13 year old daughter, Courtney and I had a similar conversation about boys, drugs, and the friends we make over a Red Bull energy drink. It was a blessing to hear Courtney describe how she confronted a friend about having a boyfriend because "your not supposed to really date until you're ready to get married and looking for a spouse." Both Caleb and Courtney showed great wisdom in my conversations with them. I was pleased to see how they are exhibiting much evidence of God's grace in their lives.
God's word exhorts parents to train up our children in the way that they should go. In order to do that, we need to actually spend time with our kids, one on one, and communicate with them about more than the silly things we love to discuss. Let me tell you; the kids at school don't think it's awkward to talk about sex and drugs. The problem is that they will discuss it wrongly. The kids at school would love to train up OUR kids in the way that the WORLD thinks they should go if we, as the parents, are not training them up rightly. If we are not talking to our kids about the proper perspectives on important issues, they will very easily adopt the perspectives and world views of their unbelieving friends. I have not been the best at this in the past, but by God's grace that will change going forward. Let me encourage you to join me in this! Let's engage our children regarding the crucial issues that they are facing, even before they are facing them if possible. Let's provide our children with a biblical world view at a young age and teach them to discern truth from error. It may be weird for us at first and we may not know where to start, but if we step out in faith and just do it, God will bless it and use it in mighty ways.
If you are like me, and you have failed in this area in the past, don't be discouraged. God is gracious and merciful. Jesus died on the cross for the sins that we commited, and the important things that we have omitted. He died for the bad things we've done and the good things we haven't done. Receive His forgiveness in Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Repent! Even if your kids are older and out of the house; be a presence in their lives! Speak wisdom into their lives and express your sorrow for not having done it in the past. This will bring God much glory.
~ Issac
I'm sure all parents have different strengths and weaknesses, but one of my greatest challenges/weaknesses as a parent has been figuring out how to discuss difficult and awkward topics with my kids. I have recently become more aware of the urgency to discuss "difficult topics" with my kids as they are getting older so I've decided to do it. This past Saturday I took my 10 year old son, Caleb, out to coffee (he had a non-coffee drink) at Starbucks and we discussed topics like Jesus, our move to Missoula, school, friends, drugs, sex, and marriage. That's a pretty wide variety of topics for a casual Saturday morning at Starbucks, don't ya think? Interestingly enough, although these topics were somewhat awkward for me to bring up, they didn't seem to be the slightest bit awkward to Caleb. He talked very openly and honestly about his perspective on these things, the way people at school view these things, and how he wants to honor God with his life. I was greatly encouraged to hear a genuine distaste for ungodly perspectives on sex, dating, and marriage. Caleb is 10. Statistics say that most boys have been introduced to porn by that age. We discussed "gross pictures" and how we need to flee the scene if anyone tries to show us stuff like that. It was such a great eye opener to see how easy and un-awkward it was to discuss these things. As a matter of fact, Caleb really enjoyed our time and expressed desire to talk like that more often!
On a trip to the grocery store, my 13 year old daughter, Courtney and I had a similar conversation about boys, drugs, and the friends we make over a Red Bull energy drink. It was a blessing to hear Courtney describe how she confronted a friend about having a boyfriend because "your not supposed to really date until you're ready to get married and looking for a spouse." Both Caleb and Courtney showed great wisdom in my conversations with them. I was pleased to see how they are exhibiting much evidence of God's grace in their lives.
God's word exhorts parents to train up our children in the way that they should go. In order to do that, we need to actually spend time with our kids, one on one, and communicate with them about more than the silly things we love to discuss. Let me tell you; the kids at school don't think it's awkward to talk about sex and drugs. The problem is that they will discuss it wrongly. The kids at school would love to train up OUR kids in the way that the WORLD thinks they should go if we, as the parents, are not training them up rightly. If we are not talking to our kids about the proper perspectives on important issues, they will very easily adopt the perspectives and world views of their unbelieving friends. I have not been the best at this in the past, but by God's grace that will change going forward. Let me encourage you to join me in this! Let's engage our children regarding the crucial issues that they are facing, even before they are facing them if possible. Let's provide our children with a biblical world view at a young age and teach them to discern truth from error. It may be weird for us at first and we may not know where to start, but if we step out in faith and just do it, God will bless it and use it in mighty ways.
If you are like me, and you have failed in this area in the past, don't be discouraged. God is gracious and merciful. Jesus died on the cross for the sins that we commited, and the important things that we have omitted. He died for the bad things we've done and the good things we haven't done. Receive His forgiveness in Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Repent! Even if your kids are older and out of the house; be a presence in their lives! Speak wisdom into their lives and express your sorrow for not having done it in the past. This will bring God much glory.
~ Issac
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
