Selling, Marketing and Evangelism

As I embark on the New Year I have been looking at just how results oriented the message of Jesus is. Trees producing fruit, servants managing money, soil producing a crop are just a few examples of how concerned God is with the bottom line. "I knew you were a hard man," says the servant that hid his money in the ground, "You reap where you have not sown and you gather where you have not scattered."

I had an interesting conversation about this the other day when considering strategies for evangelism. Admittedly when talking about selling, marketing or any other kind of results oriented strategies, it sounds shallow or even crude when correlating it with sharing the gospel message. However, when it comes to results or "winning" as the case may be, God is all about it. In the description of love found in 1 Cor. 13, before we are told how love is patient, kind, and forgiving, God tells us through Paul that He doesn't care what we know, believe or do if it is not accompanied by an attitude of love which He then carefully defines for us. I think the pinnacle of what God is trying to tell us comes in verse 8 as it reads, "Love never fails."

Why does God want us to adopt a life of love, a strategy of love, to walk in love? I think it is for the most simple reason available. Love wins. Love succeeds. Love never loses. Love gets the results God wants. Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying, "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." I think God subscribes to that philosophy when it comes to relationships among people. If someone were to suggest a DIFFERENT strategy, shouldn't I want to know if that suggested strategy EVER fails. If it doesn't have a 100% success ratio, why would I even consider trying it when God has given me a failproof method. You could take medicine A which has been proven to cure you 100% of the time or you can take medicine B which has been proven to cure you 95% of the time and to kill you only 5% of the time. Who would even consider medicine B?

Now if we look at how Love is defined by society we might consider the song by the Rolling Stones, "Love Stinks." The song by Nazareth, "Love Hurts" A line in "Love Hurts" is "I know it isn't true, Love is just a LIE made to make you blue." Then the song by Don Henley and Patti Smyth warns that "there's a danger in loving somebody too much," because "sometimes love just ain't enough." When love is REDEFINED as a burning desire within ourselves that must be fulfilled, love will be devalued to represent selfish desire, lust and justification for sexual immorality. It is then that those songs become true about love as it has been redefined by society.

Do I want to redefine love as something it is not and then complain to God when my version of love FAILS? This kind of love is nothing close to the unfailing, invincible, winning love that God has defined for us in His word. In the end, if I am doing this, I must admit that there isn't a problem with love, there is a problem with... me. If I am really wanting to win, won't I use love as the Ace of Spades trump card that it is in my life. The problem with trying to use love selfishly is that love is not selfish. I can't use love ruthlessly because love is not ruthless. I wonder if God is serious about wanting me to love others as HE has specifically defined love? I believe He is eternally serious about it.