Recently I had the privilege of going out for a meal with a clergy couple as part of our visitation of the Yellowstone Missionary District (Diocese of Western Anglicans), which covers the states of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. Our server was a very engaging young man, and the clergyperson with whom we were visiting asked him about all the sleeve tatoos he had on his arms. I know that this priest was doing his very best to open an opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with this young man– and perhaps even to pray with and for him. Our server explained that all the tatoos on his arms were of characters from Tim Burton’s movie The Nightmare before Christmas and pointed to each character and named them. I don’t think any one of us had seen the movie, and the server was eager to turn the conversation back to our order and get it to the kitchen. When the priest mentioned to our server that we would like to pray for him, and asked how we could pray for him, he said simply “pray for good fortune” and then turned immediately to the kitchen. So, we prayed for him and for good fortune— realizing that the LORD would need to open the eyes of this man’s heart to see that life is more than experiencing good fortune.
I am blessed and humbled by the example of this priest who cared enough to try and build a relational bridge with someone who does not yet know Jesus Christ! His approach was loving, genuine, relational, and faithful. He was following the example of the sower in Jesus’ very first parable on the Sower and the seed in Mark 4:1-21, but he was sowing into some hard ground. Jesus described this kind of ground–this soil of the heart– as the kind that is so hard packed and trodden that the seed literally bounces off and becomes food for the birds. Jesus explains the spiritual dimension of this indifference to the seed. “Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown,” he said. “As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.” (Mark 4:15). The Apostle Paul takes this diagnosis one step deeper in his second letter to the Corinthians: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor. 4:4).
Yes, we face hearts that are indifferent to the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We live in a culture where people come from families that are multiple generations unchurched, who are removed from and are literally ignorant of any facts about Jesus Christ, the Bible, or a Christian worldview. We live in a culture where consciences have been deadened and even seared to the difference between good and evil by relentlessly contending voices on social media. One shock in the news cycle fades into another, and another… and the temptation to turn away and enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through “good fortune,” success, great weather, and more goods becomes overwhelming.
How then do we share Jesus Christ with people whose hearts seem indifferent to the Gospel? We do not lose heart. Paul says it twice in this same letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 4:1, 16). “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord,” he says, “For God, who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Christ!” (2 Cor. 4:5-6). We always harbor the same conviction deep in our hearts, from the prologue to the Gospel of John, that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). Even more, we are convinced that when the light of Christ shines through our hearts to others, the darkness cannot overcome it!
As followers of Jesus Christ, we have also been equipped to overcome the spiritual darkness of hardened hearts. Paul describes this equipment as “the full armor of God,” which we put on every day to take our stand against the world, the flesh, and the Devil (Ephesians 6:10-18). In his wonderful commentary on Ephesians, John Stott notes one piece in particular, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The word Paul uses here for sword is machaira, the Roman short sword, which was for both offense and defense. God’s Word, always inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit, still works offensively and defensively today. God puts the sword of his written Word, inspired by his Holy Spirit, into our hands, so that we may use it both in resisting temptation (as Jesus did when tempted in the wilderness) and in sharing the good news with others—including those whose hearts may be hardened and indifferent. “God’s written word, whose origin is repeatedly attributed to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is [still today] his word,” Stott declares, “for he still uses it to cut through people’s defenses, to prick their consciences and “to stab them spiritually awake.”
Therefore, we do not lose heart! We don’t give up in the face of indifference or hardness of heart. Instead, we create space in our lives to build relationships with friends, neighbors, and co-workers who do not yet know Jesus Christ. We look for opportunities to share with others—even if it is a moment with a server who takes our order. We are convinced that the light of Christ, which shines in and through our hearts, will pierce the darkness of indifference, one flash at a time. We take up the sword of the spirit, God’s Word empowered by the Holy Spirit, and share it whenever we can. We pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests (Eph 6:18), and especially when we are sharing Christ with others. Jesus himself promises that he will be with us always when we do this! (Matthew 28:20). His light, His word, our testimony, and our prayers will shine through and pierce the darkness of indifference. Count on it.
