Yelling At People Doesn't Help Jesus (Or Your Throat!)

Last weekend I saw a man yelling on the street.  I was ignoring him until I heard the loud words "sinners" and "Hell".  He was yelling into a megaphone at people telling them to get saved.  He had a bible in his hand but he didn't open it.  I think if he had actually opened his bible he wouldn't have been yelling at those people.

Witnessing is very important to do, that's why we need to know how to do it and do it right.  Witnessing is sharing the love of God with others.  We are so in awe of our relationship with God that we want others to have a relationship with Him too.  I didn't feel a lot of love from the person on the street, in fact, I didn't feel any love at all.  If I didn't have a relationship with God and I saw that guy yelling at me, I would actually be repelled from Christianity.  I would have asked myself "This is what Christians are like, hateful and judgmental?"  That's not what God tells us to do at all,  He tells us to be loving and humble.

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians he wrote:

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.  Do everything in love.
(1 Corinthians 16:13,14, NIV)

The Yelling Dude probably had good intentions.  He wanted to save people.  He wanted to be a man of courage and he stood firm enough in his beliefs enough to tell people about them. It wasn't enough, if he didn't witness out of love nothing he said mattered one bit.

If you rewind a couple chapters in Paul's letter to the Corinthians you will run into these verses on love:

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all my possessions to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NIV)

Love is the basis of witnessing.  The Yelling Dude could tell people they are going to Hell all he wants, he can yell his head off, but nobody will be saved.  The harder he hurls insults at people the harder they bounce back.  You could pray with one of your friends during school lunch and that could bring ten times more salvation than Yelling Dude was trying to dish out.  Witnessing without love is in vain, Yelling Man is just a clanging cymbal.  Nobody can bring salvation but Jesus.  Jesus knocks on the doors of our hearts and witnessing is just asking, "Hey, are you going to open that?".  If we yell at people to open the door they are going lock it for good, which beats the whole purpose of witnessing.  On the other hand, if we ask them with love then the odds for their salvation are suddenly a lot higher.

Since love is the basis of witnessing, how do we witness?  The best way to witness is with your actions.  Keeping love the basis of every choice you make.  Instead of asking yourself how you can benefit from choices you make, ask yourself how you can help other people benefit from the choices you make.  If you do use words to witness, just share your own journey with God and the ways Jesus changed your life.  Never witness because you are "better than someone else".  We are not better because we are Christians, just better off.  Witness because you truly care for their salvation, witness because you can't imagine where your life would be without Jesus and you want them to live their life the way they were born to; to have a relationship with their loving Creator.

Love others like Jesus loves you, that's all witnessing is.  Believe me, it's a lot more efficient than yelling your head off on the street.