And he said, “Then I am asking you, father, that you send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers — in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” But he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!” But he said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.”
Luke 16:27-31
During times of doubt or weakness in your faith, have you ever called out to God and asked Him for a sign? Have you ever said, “Prove you are real and I will believe”? What if I told you He already has? What if I told you God has done many great and spectacular things, and yet people continued to disbelieve Him? He parted the Red Sea, destroyed Pharaoh’s armies, and cleared the way for Israel to enter the Promised Land only for them to turn back and doubt Him out of fear of those who lived there already. He sent prophets and preachers who revealed the future, and their hearers killed them. He put on flesh and came to this earth as a man, healing, teaching, and redeeming a people for Himself, but was rejected by His chosen ones who demanded He be crucified. And all this is recorded in the Bible.
This parable is known as The Rich Man and Lazarus, and is interestingly the only parable Jesus told where a character has a name. Lazarus was a poor beggar in life, but comforted in death and counted among the righteous. A rich man in contrast is found to be condemned, having hoarded his wealth in life, refusing to offer any aid to Lazarus. He pleads with Abraham to send a message to his brothers lest they fall into the same fate he did, but the response Abraham gives him is telling: “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” The assumption being made is that meaningful and life changing faith is expected from the reading and understanding of scripture.
We may also glean the fact that many people will not allow their minds to be changed. Whether that is on matters of grave importance or in small conflicts. We like to think of ourselves as rational beings, but the choices people make are rarely such. “I need to get more sleep” says the man who spends every night staring at his phone until 1:00am. “I wish I could eat better” says the mom rushing through the drive-thru at McDonalds. “I just don’t have time to exercise” says the one who has seen every documentary available on Netflix at least once. We make irrational choices all the time to satiate our immediate desires, and when we have decided our minds on something, we become obstinate and unlikely to repent.
Do not waste your time trying to persuade others who have shown themselves unwilling to consider reason. If you are working through a business deal and the other person refuses to see your side of things, no amount of badgering or arguing will make the situation better. Either accept that person where he is or find another partner who will work more agreeably with you. Desperately trying everything you can to convince another person of your position will inevitably feel like banging your head against a wall. Let the simple truth be the simple truth, and allow others to accept or deny it by their own accord.
This principle carries over strongly into sharing the faith. It is clear from this parable that the only thing needed to bring faith is the word of God. Romans 1:16 tells us the gospel itself is the power of God to bring salvation. It is not your fancy arguments or persuasive tactics that will convince someone. In fact, Paul even went so far as to abandon the use of argumentation when he preached to the Corinthians: “And when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superiority of word or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the witness of God… …so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) The great evangelist and apostle Paul felt it was not merely unnecessary but possibly even detrimental to the integrity of someone’s faith if that faith was built on crafty arguments. Because anything someone can be argued into, they can be argued out of. Make sure when you share the faith you do not set others up for failure by giving them a foundation in anything other than the eternal word of God. Let the proven and completed work of Jesus on the cross be their hope and salvation, and let it be yours.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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