They really do not want a descriptive analogy; they simply want us to feel as if they have been inquisitive enough to have recognized your existence.
“Morning, how are you today?”
“I’m pretty good, how about you?”
That opening salvo of niceties is really as far as many of them want to go, from that point there are only two options, the world that is or the world to come.
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (1 Peter 3:15)
I believe that most who profess to serve the Living God prefer to focus on certain words in that verse, and I believe also that if you will search your memory of all the people that you have met that say they are Christians, you will see the truth of that statement. The words in that verse that are most important to them are “every man that asketh you.” It lets them off the hook, so to speak, it offers them consolation for not bringing up in the conversation Him whom they profess to serve.
It is in their mind a viable excuse to them, for the one they are speaking to did not ask them about their faith.
I also believe that most who stand behind the pulpits recognize this truth, and instead of attempting to use the Scriptures to convict them to bring up in those conversations the Word of God, they scratch their itchy ears, they assist them in feeling comfortable in their supposed walk, they simply tell them to invite those they meet to church.
The truth is this.
“For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26)
The majority of these letters to you are meant to reveal to you if you truly have been born-again.
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10)
There are no mute ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, there is no such thing as a silent Christian, we are to wait on the Lord, not wait to be asked to give that account. And so, sadly, I fear that many of these letters do not convict people to go out into the world and search for the lost, but do little more than make them feel bad, cause them to think that I am overstepping my boundaries, by revealing to them that He whom they say they love they do not speak of outside those church walls or the confines of their heart.
Many believe that what I am saying is that if you do not witness to those you meet with your words, if you profess that you love Him whom you say you serve, but do not mention His name to those you meet, you are probably not saved.
And that is exactly what I am saying.
And when every excuse is offered, every rationale for them not doing so is exhausted, it comes down to this, they were embarrassed.
I can hear them screaming forever, I can feel their utter hopelessness, I realize I have been shown what eternal separation from the love of God means. And many, many times I have agreed with Jeremiah.
“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jer. 20:9)
I am not going to tickle your ears, I am not going to tell you that everything will be all right, because if you are one who believes you are saved, but you never speak of Him whom you say saved you to others, then you probably are not.
The Almighty has set me on a path to reach out to those who profess Him only with their lips, but only within the confines of a false security that never does so outside of those church walls, outside of the confines of their own deceiving heart. It has caused many to hate me, and I can live with that.
One day you may be saying, “I wish I would have” in a place you did not expect to go.
Begin to speak.
