GENESIS 1:26-27
Is evangelism only about telling the good news? Or, could evangelism also be
about the flip side of telling the good news, that is discovering the good news? We are
told in Genesis 1:27, “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he
created them; male and female he created them” (New Revised Standard Version of the
Bible). Somewhere along the way we lose touch with this truth. We forget who we are.
And in forgetting who we are, we start living out of the erroneous self-image we have
acquired.
When we tell others our story of God’s redemptive love working in our lives, we in
essence are telling the story that God sees us as important and special, so much so,
that He continuously redeems us from our sin. And when we are redeemed from
our blindness of who we truly are, made in the image of God, we are set free.
Sometimes when we tell our story or the good news, it helps the other person see
who they truly are, a child of God made in God’s image with whom God loves. But
sometimes it takes more for a person to see the Truth or discover or rediscover the
Truth within them.
In my life, for me to see the Truth I have had to discover and rediscover it. How
have I discovered it? I would say the main way I have discovered the Truth, over and
over, is by others holding up the mirror so that I could see and experience the Truth
that already resided within me. I have been able to see God’s Redemptive Love and
Truth at work in my life by examining my life through the mirrors that others have
held up.
I believe that in evangelism we need to remember that this reverse side of “telling
the good news” also holds true: that we are called to do the hard work of helping others
discover the good news or the Truth within them. When we are able to see the Truth
within them, then we are able to reflect it back to them in ways that they begin to
rediscover who they truly are.
I am reminded of the poem, “The Woodcarver” which I feel expresses much of
what I have attempted to say about this flip side of evangelism. I will close with this
poem and invite you to read it through several times to glean from it the wisdom it has
to offer.
Prayer: “The Woodcarver”:http://www.watershedonline.ca/community/personal/cwwoodcarvr.html
Excerpt for use in prayer: My own collected thought
Encountered the hidden potential in the wood;
From this live encounter came the work
Which you ascribe to the spirits.”
Loma Eaves is a student at Pacific School of Religion and a member of
Chalice Christian Church.