Prepared to Answer?

I am re-reading Rubel Shelly's Prepare To Answer because really, I don't feel adequatly prepared to give the reason for my faith. In this post-modern world, I am unsure that my old pat answers ring true. I originally bought and read this book after I became engaged to a Catholic boy who was asking questions. : ) Rubel helped me out then, but not in the way I thought. I realized Catholic boys worshiped and claimed the same Christ... who'd a thunk that? And really Rob's questions were more heart felt and sincere than my born, bread, and educated church of Christ religious answers. ANYWAY my recent re-examening of my faith response sent me re-visisting this book. Around page 172 Shelly says the following in reference to Jesus' statement to the high preist of the Jewish nation that he was the Christ and the Son of God...

Claims of such magnitude cannot be ignored. They are either true or
false. They must be believed or rejected. If they are accepted
as true and believed, profound implications follow for every aspect of one's
life. If they are thrown out as false and repudiated, one stands
either to deny existence of God altogether or else to propose another means to
acess into his favor. Any attempt to be neutral to Jesus of Nazareth is
tantamount to rejecting him.

In marketing we call that a hard sell. (Not a hard sale!) I used to work for a marketing company on the Porsche account. Porsches are a hard sell. They require a certain lifestyle beyond the cost of purchasing the automobile. Even though I was not a salesperson, I learned to size up a "patron" pretty quick to see if they truly "fit" the Porsche profile. Sometimes it wasn't a matter of money, it was a matter of automobile enthusiasm or an ability to appreciate and maintain the car. Porsches are really SPORTS CARS not luxury vehicles. If you want cup holders and electric everything, you are more of a BMW/ Mercedes person. If you don't want the sound of the engine to drown out your BOSE music, you are more of a Lexus/Audi person. If the music IS the sound of the engine, you are a Porsche person. Of course we were finely tuned to sell the lifestyle, not just the car. That is what marketing companies do.

Is that what we try to do as Christians... sell the lifestyle and hope the world will buy Jesus? He made it hard for us "marketing" Christians by rejecting all others claiming to be God. He is it.The real thing. The original. No other way to the Father except through him. You either call him your Savior or you call him a liar. No middle ground. The original hard sell.

Or is He a hard sell? The more I think about that inference, the more inaccurate it seems. I don't have to sell salvation as I sometimes think I do for several reasons. First, slavaton was given to me and to all, so there is nothing to sell. Second, I don't have any special claim to salvation aside from Jesus Christ, so I can only direct folks his way. Christ commissioned me to get the word out and be prepared to answer with the reason for my faith. He did not bottle salvation and send me out to go door to door like a Girl Scout selling cookies.

The Bible even says that faith is a gift from the Father. Why do I think I have to muster faith up from deep within myself? Faith doesn't come from within, it comes from above. Want faith? Go to the source. Want Salvation? Go to the source. I guess I'm not a salesmen, just a bill board. In the class room of life, HE is the Teacher and I am supposed to be the illustrations of His text. I am the life application examples. How good of an illustraion am I? Would the Teacher pick me as his example? Jesus has to shine through me as my Savior if I am to be His bill board. Hhhmmm? What do you think?

As for the reason for my faith, HE gave it to me. My Savior makes himself known to me every day. He gave me undeserved salvation from a life of having to do it all alone with my pitiful, inadequate, human self. He delivered me to the Kingdom where I am a favored child of the Most High. What does that mean in my every day life or in yours? .....

As you can see, big thoughts are swimming in the soggy matter between my ears this morning. I think I need to get back to Rubel's book. Chow