“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14)
If you will but listen when you are having a conversation with someone, it is quite easy to lead that conversation towards eternal matters, and after some practice, it becomes the natural thing to do.
I have found over the decades that the best way to lead a conversation is to allow the one you are speaking with to believe that they are the one who is leading it. They will be speaking about temporal items, earthly things, and you must pretend, as it were, that what they believe to be important is important to you as well, while all the while understanding that nothing they are speaking about is of any eternal consequences whatsoever.
“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;” (Col. 3:9)
If you see this as deception or as a form of trickery, then you are missing the point completely.
“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” 1st Corinthians 9:22 may be running through your mind at the moment, but if your goal is to introduce those you meet to our Savior for the glory of God, just how much feigned interest can you have in the subject matter they find so very important when you know that whatever it is they are speaking about has no eternal value whatsoever?
That tomorrow or the next week when you meet them they will have something completely different to talk about, something they find once again of great interest, but once again will fade away just as quickly in importance to them as the last topic did?
“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Col. 4:6)
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Matt. 5:13)
It is both saddening and extremely frustrating to me when I happen to overhear conversations of those whom I know attend churches in this town, and the entirety of their words focuses on the temporal, the latest news of the world, with not one word of praise or a single Scripture verse spoken, much less when they are speaking to one who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
The salt, if it was ever there, has lost all its savour.
If you are studying to show yourself approved, nearly every sentence someone speaks to you has a Scriptural equivalent, there is almost always a verse, an account from the Word of God, that can be interjected into the conversation.
The brute beasts are always easily led, and much more so when they believe they are leading, pride does that to people, and most of them will continue speaking to you as long as you seem interested in what they are talking about. But that is not why they have been placed into your presence, and you know that.
Here, in that moment, you must determine who is more important to you, you must make a decision between the temporal, earthly things, and those things that will last throughout all eternity. A simple verse from the Scriptures, a few lines of the text of the Word of God, an analogy in context from the Scriptures interjected into the conversation, and soon they will begin to hear, then, when they realize that it is you that has been leading the conversation all along, they will need to make a decision.
Sometimes they will listen.
You did once.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed you rarely have to do that, He will send them to you. At that point, you lead them to the cross, just like someone did for you once.
