I was introduced to Aesop as a small child and I loved his simple life hacks. Here is one such hack as it applies to wittnessing for Jesus. It’s called the “The North Wind and the Sun.”
The North Wind & the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun had a quarrel about which of them was the stronger. While they were disputing with much heat and bluster, a Traveler passed along the road wrapped in a cloak.
“Let us agree,” said the Sun, “that he is the stronger who can strip that Traveler of his cloak.”
“Very well,” growled the North Wind, and at once sent a cold, howling blast against the Traveler.
With the first gust of wind the ends of the cloak whipped about the Traveler’s body. But he immediately wrapped it closely around him, and the harder the Wind blew, the tighter he held it to him. The North Wind tore angrily at the cloak, but all his efforts were in vain.
Then the Sun began to shine. At first his beams were gentle, and in the pleasant warmth after the bitter cold of the North Wind, the Traveler unfastened his cloak and let it hang loosely from his shoulders. The Sun’s rays grew warmer and warmer. The man took off his cap and mopped his brow. At last he became so heated that he pulled off his cloak, and, to escape the blazing sunshine, threw himself down in the welcome shade of a tree by the roadside.
Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.”
What Christians can learn from Aesop
The traveler is a person who has not yet encountered the Lord on his travels. The traveler may be a wonderful person, but without God in his life, his is incomplete, empty. He may be lonely, grieving or searching for purpose or meaning in his life. But he won’t find it with his cloak wrapped tightly, protectively around him
The wind and the sun are Christians, but they take different approaches in their personal evangelism. The wind preaches condemnation, judgment, hellfire and brimstone–God’s law. The wind’s message is a negative one. The sun preaches mercy and forgiveness–God’s grace. The sun has a positive approach. Both are Scriptural, but in my experience, the latter is more effective than the former.
Some people do come to God in fear, while under fire in their little foxhole. Or, when the grim reaper knocks on their door. Many more come to God because they want the love in their life that they see in the lives of others. They want the burden they’ve carried on their backs all these years to be lifted, buried, once and for all.
When I was a new Christian studying ways to approach people with my faith, I read You can drive out the darkness in people or you can turn on a light in their lives. That light is Jesus.
I’d like to thank my loving wife for being such an inspiration to me. She’s put up with me for the past three years, and I look forward to the future because of her.
