derstand their actions in the light of a Christian testimony. I Corin thians is an epistle of understand- ing for change; not a message to bring misery and remorse. On this point, let me also add a comment on Christian literature— particularly tracts. Some do little more than shame the non-believer. They do not help him understand his need before Cod. Tracts should not be written to make the writer feel better, they should be wisely written to aid understanding so de cisions can be made. I think the very simple but very effective tool that is used by Cam pus Crusade for Christ, the Four Spiritual Laws, is a most effective tool in helping the unsaved indi vidual understand his need and the tremendous provision of Christ. But I have also seen other tracts that do little but tell others off. All shame but no warning as we have understood it. One series of tracts in particu lar that is calculated to reach high school young people has a lot of excellent material in it. But the over-all thrust probably produces more anger than understanding on the part of those who do not love Christ. We can pray that the Holy Spirit will use a tract as we place it in the hands of an individual, but I think that we are off-base if we use poorly prepared material that is not effectively thought out and is not tried out in a number of ways to see how effective it is. We can learn much from the marketing techniques that the world has. They are not going to put out a product, without exten sive testing to see whether or not it will be accepted, understood, and purchased. A good tract—even a
Then, as now, people seldom see themselves as they really are. Paul's first task was not to shame them—that would not be fair if they truly did not know how bad off they were. He seeks first to get them to see and understand the poor life they have been living. Understanding is now more im portant than merely telling off! This is a good principle to fol low in dealing with others. Help them understand what they are doing, help them see the conse quences of their actions. Lasting change for the better is more like ly to come from self-understand ing than just self-incrimination and remorse because of a tongue lash ing. In fact, when we seek to shame people we may be merely venting our anger. If we want to help peo ple, other approaches are better. Is it not strange that we often take more care in guiding an ani mal into good behavior than our own children? Those who have successfully worked with animals know that venting our displeasure by shouting or even kicking an animal seldom produces good re sults. You have to help a dog or horse understand what you want. And you have to blend discipline with praise. You do not want to shame an animal into cowering in the corner. You want him to un derstand and respond. It is strange that we seldom are as patient and show as much love to people as we do to pets. Prob ably we expect people, with their Cod-given intelligence, to under stand more. However, none of us see ourselves as we really are. We, too, need understanding and can learn about ourselves from others even as we seek to help others un
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