We’ll never forget what a man taught us when we went to work as an automobile mechanic and we didn’t know whether to open the trunk or the hood when they handed us a work sheet that said, “tune the engine.” He said, “When someone comes in with a problem about his automobile and starts to tell you what he thinks it is, don’t interrupt him and say, ‘That’s not it!’ Learn to be a good listener, though he may not know what he’s talking about. Then, after he gets through, don’t tell him, ‘You’re wrong!’ Just say, ‘Let’s look into it and see if we can find what the trouble is.’ ” We learned a good lesson! We can make many friends with that attitude and approach.

We’d like to share with you something else we believe is a fact. We’ll never win people to Christ until they have confidence in us. They can’t have confidence in what we say until they first have confidence in our life.

One of the first things a salesperson learns is that they can’t effectively sell any product to someone until they’re sold on it themselves. This same principle applies to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re going to have to be convinced that it’s not only the "right way," but that it’s the "only way," one hundred percent, no question about it! Only then will we get a glimpse of the urgency of showing it to others, and the way we will be most effective is by showing it in the way we conduct our life.

We need to learn how to evaluate our words in the light of eternity, and we need to learn how to evaluate the things that we do in the light of eternity. How are they going to affect the people who are on their way to the judgment?

There are some things that we believe, which are just not necessary to try to compel other people to follow. They’re personal! Let’s let God work through the ministry that He called, to instruct and to enlighten and to direct other people. It becomes a law when we compel someone to do something before he understands, and it becomes burdensome. However, when God reveals it, it becomes a blessing.

We can see somebody who was just saved doing things that we can't do. Let’s not “jump on him/her” and say, “You aren’t saved because of what you’re doing.” Remember how long it took for us to get where we are! We didn’t always know what we know now. Somebody had a lot of patience with us and loved us in spite of what we were doing until we grew up a bit. Now, it’s our turn to do the same thing with others.

If they’re dong what we think they ought not to be doing, let’s pray and ask God to “lay in on the pastor’s heart” to preach a message that will shed some light there. And when it comes under the anointing of the Holy Spirit from the Book of God, then they will want to “put it on” and it will be a joy and a blessing, and it will draw them closer to God. When we try to hang it on them before God gives them understanding, it will be a weight to them. We’d better be careful. We don’t know the level of understanding that that individual has. Let’s remember that we are “bothering with” God’s children. They’re not ours and they don’t have to measure up to our opinion. [ The End ]