Make 'em Wonder What You've Got

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hldude33

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“Make ‘em Wonder What You’ve Got”
By Zach Wood
Colossians 4:5-6 NLT
Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.


Back in 1994, Newsboys released the hit song “Shine”. In the chorus, they sing “Shine. Make ‘em wonder what you got. Make ‘em wish that they were not, on the outside looking bored.”

This was one of my favorite songs from the band for many years. It was catchy and just plain fun to sing and dance to. But most importantly, it had a great message. The song was about how we need to shine as Christians and show the world what they are missing by not having the awesome life of Christ.

The Apostle Paul, in this passage from the NLT, says to let our conversations be gracious and attractive. We often do things in life to make ourselves look good, don’t we? When we go to a wedding or a funeral, we usually wear something formal because we want to look nice for the occasion. When we go to an interview, we dress up to make a good impression. When we go on a special date with a girlfriend/boyfriend, fiancé, or spouse, we often dress up because we want to look good for them.

Often times, we put in a lot of time and attention to make ourselves look good because it’s a special event. I can’t help but to think about how we prepare ourselves everyday for the special occasions for when we get into conversations with others. So often, we put so much attention on our job duties and other things, but we spend little time tending to our attitudes and the words we say to others.

Paul has told us to live wisely among those who don’t believe and make the most of every opportunity. As we live our daily lives, are we living in such a way that makes people around us wonder what we’ve got? Do we make them wish they were not out the outside looking bored as the Newboys sing about? Do we shine for others to see?

Everything we do every day should catch the attention of others and make them wonder why we do what we do. The words we say. The way we do things. Why we don’t say words most others are saying. The way we won’t go along with others who are telling off-color jokes.

Are we making them wonder what we’ve really got? Are our words and actions “attractive” to them, making them “itch” to find out why we are so different? I hope so. Shine!
 

FHII

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Sounds fine to me as long as you don't come off as prideful and arrogant about it.
 
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Cornerstone Network

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I think you've touched on a very important point - much of the time we think that we have to 'convince' people to become saved, when in reality we can never do that. Only the Holy Spirit can.

For us to be effective witnesses we need combination of telling and showing. We need to preach the gospel message faithfully. But we also need to 'shine' by demonstrating how the love of God makes a difference in our everyday lives. That way, we'll hopefully attract others to the truth and beauty of the gospel message.

Thanks for sharing that message from Zach Wood.
 
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bbyrd009

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Are we making them wonder what we’ve really got? Are our words and actions “attractive” to them, making them “itch” to find out why we are so different? I hope so. Shine!
nice! i've just been on about this in another thread
Sounds fine to me as long as you don't come off as prideful and arrogant about it.
well then that would make it much less attractive in the moment too hopefully, ya. It's hard to even talk about without sounding prideful though, which is weird, as it is a function of humility imo
 
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bbyrd009

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We need to preach the gospel message faithfully. But we also need to 'shine' by demonstrating how the love of God makes a difference in our everyday lives.
fwiw i have noticed that if you drop the first one and concentrate on the second one, you change the whole "conversation." (in quotes because the real convo is occurring in actions, or in what is not said) Christ is then removed from the religious, and into IRL. My premise here being that the religious have more or less appropriated the language, so then traditional proselytizing is not heard from the same pov as it is delivered from, as we can observe happening in even an...unhypocritical proselytizer, assuming one exists. The terms now deemed "religious" tend to shut down the hearer iow
 

bbyrd009

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of course what you really have is Good News, but this is poorly defined at best, right, even or especially among Christians. People committed to Rule of Law are just not going to grasp your forgiveness very easily, they wanna know, essentially, why you are not calling the cops on the guy who is stealing your coat, why th are you actually giving them your shirt too, etc
 

FHII

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nice! i've just been on about this in another thread
well then that would make it much less attractive in the moment too hopefully, ya. It's hard to even talk about without sounding prideful though, which is weird, as it is a function of humility imo
I know what you mean... It's such a great gift that's its hard not to be excited about it.
 
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