Do we make Jesus “attractive”? Evangelism is not difficult, yet fewer people are coming to Christian faith in our country than in years past. Fewer people are concerned about what Jesus taught or what the Bible says is true. We live in a country that is obsessed with celebrity but most don’t realize that Jesus was the biggest celebrity of his day, and still should be today.
Google Trends reveal what people are most interested in learning about, yet Jesus didn’t make their top ten list. According to a Huffington Post article, the person most googled in 2013 was Miley Cyrus. Why isn’t Jesus more attractive to people than Miley Cyrus?
Americans will spend about eight billion dollars for cosmetics this year. America and Europe combined will spend almost twelve billion dollars on perfumes. All day, every day, news stories are produced about celebrities’ clothing, hairstyles, weight gains, and plastic surgeries. Why do we care? What makes people attractive?
Jesus was attractive, but not because of his physical attributes. Isaiah 53:2 described the coming Messiah: “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Yet Jesus drew enormous crowds during his earthly ministry and He has continued to draw people throughout history.
The word attractive is an adjective meaning: “pleasing or appealing to the senses” or “having beneficial qualities or features that induce someone to accept what is being offered.” Jesus was attractive even though he had no beauty or majesty to attract people to him. What made Jesus attractive? Jesus was attractive because people wanted to accept what he offered. Jesus is attractive today for that same reason. So why aren’t crowds flocking to him now, as they did then?
When people see Jesus in us, do they know what He offers? I was moved many times by Anne Graham Lotz’s “7 7 7” prayer time for our nation. Day seven was a day to fast and pray. The fifth hour was given to the exaltation of Jesus. I realized that in all my years of living as a Christian, I had never given an hour to simply exalt Jesus. Just one hour, after all He has done for me. I realized at the end of that time, that evangelism is primarily done through exalting Jesus. If people really understood who Jesus is, they would be attracted to him. Why don’t they understand? Because we aren’t exalting him.
Anne wrote this prayer to help us exalt Jesus. I wanted to share it with you all again – and encourage all of us to spend time – a lot of time – exalting our Savior. Anne wrote:
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We pray that Your Son would be exalted first, within our own hearts, then in our own families, churches and nation. Jesus promised that when He is lifted up, He will draw all people to Himself. We boldly ask that You do whatever it takes to compel Your people to present the Gospel without compromise. Turn the hearts of Your people back to worship and magnify Him, so that as the world observes us, they will be drawn to Him. Use the problems, pressures and pain; the trials, trouble and trauma we experience as a showcase for His glory, so that when others see our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, meekness, and self-control they will know they are seeing Jesus in us, and want to know Him, too.
Evangelism isn’t difficult. Evangelism is simply making Jesus so attractive to others that they flock to him today as they did when he walked the planet.
Jesus is still walking the planet, wearing your shoes. Look around…who is He attracting right now?
{jcomments lock}