"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." – Matthew 22:36-40

A couple of years ago my wife and I found ourselves in a unique conundrum.  As a family we are in a position to be both blessed and burdened by the fact that we were now in the market for a new automobile for my wife.  The new car part is exciting but the new car buying part is, well, extremely annoying.  I have yet to step on a car lot during this process where I have not felt like the fatted calf.  My apologies to anyone of you who are in the car business.  I understand it is a system problem not necessarily a personality problem – I think!

Anyone of you who have gone through this process knows what I am talking about.  You step on the lot only to see a hungry salesman looking out of the showroom with his face stuck to the glass, mouth salivating.  He stares at you during your seemingly endless walk up to the showroom.  Then suddenly, disappointment appears all over his face.  You wonder what kind of travesty is headed your way that this person would signal defeat on his part for no apparent reason.  That is, until you notice them.  Three sales men, all at different angles, walking with a quickened pace in your direction.  The race is on for them – first one to the new meat wins!  What do you do?  You either retreat to the car or take your chances with the carnivore in the showroom.  Either way a decision has to be made.

I wish the drama of the story ended there but sadly it is just the beginning of the process.  You then go through the process of filling out information that has nothing to do with why you are there and they won’t even answer a question for you until you do.  After that the car salesman is quick to say yes or give you anything you need, regardless of whether it is practical or not.  Let us not forget about the endless phone calls you receive regarding your interest in a car even after you have decided not to buy – and told them that!  Needless to say, the search continues on our part for a car for the family and many of these wonderful experiences still lay waiting for us.

For better or for worst my entire professional career has been spent in the world of sales.  Luckily it has been in the world of wholesale insurance sales but sales non-the-less.  In my career I have never made a significant sale where my strategy consisted of vulturing over a prospect and throwing at them whatever I thought they needed in order to buy my product.  Rather I have always taken the approach of learning about the client.  What are their needs?  What is their business model?  What is their plan for growth?  What is their thought process towards their employees? Etc, etc.  Once I can understand my prospective client only then can I begin to piece together a solution for them that fits strategically within what they are trying to accomplish as a company.  Once I do that then there is no need for a “sale” – there is only need for a decision.  Unfortunately, sometimes the prospective client will make a negative decision.  They may have influence from outside interests keeping them from moving forward or they may just not want to move forward because of cost even if the information provided indicates that it fits best in their long term plans as a company.  When that happens all I can do is leave them with the truth and let time reveal to them that the plan that was laid out for them is really the best fit for their long term goals.

OK, so by now you probably picked up on my innuendo.  Many of us approach our own commitment to the “Great Commission” given by Christ in a very similar way as a sales person.  In itself that concept is not entirely bad.  I mean, after all, as Christians we have a great product.  Not only that but the concept of helping the world become a better place for the sake of Christ  and helping to inspire others to their own salvation can lead to some great rewards come payday – um, I mean Judgment Day.  So the motivation is there to reach out to others because of the change that happened in our own life but therein lays the issue all of us have faced if we have ever given an honest effort at witnessing to people.  The issue is that people are different.  We all have different lives, different perspectives, different backgrounds, different goals – different ways of looking at God.  Since that is the case then why would you be interested in buying what I have to offer if all I can tell you is what I think you need to know in order to save your soul even if I have never met you?

So what is the solution?  I remember hearing Dr. Joel Hunter of Northland Church once say (and I am paraphrasing), “Why would you expect a non-believer to care about what is in the Bible if they have never read it and if they don’t believe in the first place?”  Interesting question I think.  As people I believe we put a lot of emphasis on language for emotional purposes but what really makes a difference in our lives, and in the lives of others, is how we live and act and love.  As a teenager I was a professional liar and a self-convinced smooth talker.  My father knew better (as is always the case) and constantly challenged me with the statement, “Oh yeah, well I’m from Missouri!”  That always drove me nuts!  Partly because when he said it he knew I was lying and partly because as a teenager that just seemed like a dumb thing for your dad to say.  For those of you that aren’t from Missouri or don’t know what he meant when he said that the nickname for Missouri is the “Show Me State”.  In my father’s language he was basically telling me to “put up or shut up”.

So how do we get a solution from that.  In Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, he talks about the concept to “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”  This is the concept I illustrated when I talked about how I differentiated myself from the car salesman earlier in this newsletter.  The solution is investing in others.  Seeking to understand who they are and what their circumstances are.  Learning about their pain and how they see the world.  Showing grace to them over and over by caring for them and loving them, even in the midst of their own sin.  You don’t condemn them for what they’ve done, you hold them while they weep.  Only then can you try and make sense of how they view God and to help lead them to Cross.  You may get to witness a little in this time and you may not but you do it by showing them that because Christ invested in you now you are investing in them.  You love them like Christ loved you and they will see.  The path to the foot of the cross will open up and Jesus will say “I’ll take it from here”.

Just remember, your relationship to Christ is important to you but it may not be important to someone else.  Invest in others.  Seek to understand them and try to focus on how you can relate to them in their terms.  In business there is a famous line that goes, “no one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”  That line is truth in all aspects of our lives.  You show someone how much you care about them and eventually they will want to know why.  When I kiss my daughter goodnight and she asks me, “Daddy, why do you love me so much?”  You better believe I have an answer.  And one day when a person you have invested in comes to you and asks why you have been so good to them for so long, well, hopefully you will have an answer for them just like I do.

In Love,

Jesse