In today's world, it's hard to believe the truth because a lot of things do not look real. It's hard to tell what is a lie as almost everything has an atom of truth that is only seen from the outside and would require a lot of verification for the true nature to be exposed. There was a time in my life when I sat down to ask myself some really deep questions, the questions I asked then were building blocks to strengthening my relationship with God and standing firm as a Christian.
It started with something like; why am I even a Christian? Why don't I become a Muslim or join any other religion or even not believe in anything? What's the difference between me who calls myself a Christian and those who believe in other religions? How am I sure that I'm standing on the right side of faith? How am I sure that those who believe in other religions aren't doing the right thing while I'm busy standing upon precepts that I do not know their origin?
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There were a lot of questions in my mind then, and these questions made me go looking for answers. I won't be answering any of these questions in this post, but if you require an answer you are welcome to my DM, just signify in the comments section. Back to what I was saying; just like me, I'm sure there are a lot of people who do not know the answers to the questions I listed above because they were probably born into the faith, or found themselves in an environment where the Christian faith is practiced and thus followed suit. Many might be in this category without realizing it until now. This issue further brings up another challenging question WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD TO DEFEND YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
Would your defense be capable of winning others, or would it make you vulnerable enough to be won out of it? Would your defense make others checkmate the knowledge of their beliefs, or would it send you back to do more research on the things you think you knew? What are the things you know about Christianity? Are they mere doctrines from churches, or are they gotten from a deep study of God's word and experience with the holy Spirit? We have been called into a ministry of soul-winning and discipleship, this calling requires that we tell everyone around us about the gospel we have believed, but how would we tell them when we do not know much about what we claim to believe?
I presume this was the point Brother Eli was trying to emphasize in his teaching about convincing our loved ones about our religion, especially when they don't share the same religious beliefs with us. At the beginning of his teaching, the statement he made was very striking to me, in his words he said; “if you are not sure of your true religion, do not convince them because you can be used as an instrument of Satan to bring them to hell”. In simple terms, this means that we should first seek to know about God and what it means to serve Him as Christians before we seek to tell others about God. This is first so that we can be strong enough to face the challenges that come with talking to people who believe otherwise to think twice and reconsider their stance on religious beliefs.
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In my early days in the higher institution, I was in the hostel when a discussion started about drinking. I believed (and still do) that Christians should avoid drinking alcohol, and an atheist among us tried to counter my belief. Before then he had succeeded in drawing many to his belief about that subject including Christians. I quoted Proverbs 31:4 which says; it is not for kings to drink wine, neither is it for princes to drink strong drink and then this atheist asked me a really stupid question; Are you a king? Or are you a king of God? Everyone began to laugh as I was dumbfounded by his question. I failed to win them over during that discussion because I knew very little about my beliefs. I forgot 1 Peter 2:9 that says ye are a royal priesthood.
Like my experience, Bro Eli in his teaching admonishes us to tell our loved ones about our faith, but even more so, we must have clear knowledge and believe in what we have chosen so that we don't look like fools who do not know what they are saying. In 1 Corinthians 9:20 bro Eli shared what apostle Paul did the moment he was convinced that he was now doing God's will, and it says…
1 Corinthians 9:20
To the Jews I became as a Jew so that I might win Jews [for Christ]; to men under the Law, [I became] as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might win those who are under the Law.
The importance of being sure is that it helps us adapt to the world system while we firmly hold on to our faith making it easier to spread the gospel using the understanding of how the world works. Indeed this is something we would need to ponder upon as believers, and I'm glad I came across this message from Brother Eli.
