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As a Pastor, I find myself wishing I could use the Jedi mind trick on people to get them to do what they should do. No mess, no fuss…just a wave of the hand and a few simple words to convince people that they need to live for Jesus.
If only it were that easy. If the Jedi Mind Trick were and effective evangelism I could sit on my couch while watching my favorite TV shows after having Jedi mind tricked whoever passed by me that day and in know time the world would be made Christian. It would mean I would never have to fear rejection. I would never have awkward conversations about my faith. I would never have to show or compassion to anyone. I would never really have to share the Gospel. How easy it would all be if the Jedi Mind Trick was an an evangelism tool?
It seems to me that while I can’t imagine anyone employing a Jedi mind trick approach to evangelism, we tend to look for the magic formula or the quick and easy way to reach people for Christ with a minimal amount of effort. We do what we can to avoid making people feel uncomfortable or to avoid rejection and we almost but never really share Jesus with others using actual words because we are afraid. I know I am often hindered in sharing my faith because I allow my fears to dictate my behavior instead of allowing God’s love for me and others to drive out the fears in my life.
To see others come to Christ more often than not requires hard work, relationship building, trust building, and sacrifice. It requires us to rely on the work of the Holy Spirit in our life and in the life of the person that we are building relationships with instead of cheap tricks and tactics that allow for us to sit idle without doing the hard work. Much is required for those who follow Christ…the cost of making disciples is high. If we are going to make disciples a simple wave of the hand will not work. Magic formulas won’t work. We must involve ourselves in the lives of others (and our communities) as messy as that might be so that the Holy Spirit can provide opportunities to bear witness to Jesus in the messiness of life. Those opportunities will not come to us as we sit on our couch hoping that God won’t ask anything to difficult of us or as we wait for him give us everything we think we deserve in the form of big houses, cars, or money. God isn’t so much interested in our best life now as He is interested in his followers living up to the calling That Jesus left to us to make disciples.
