Being Jesus to others

I'm coming to the end of Seeker Small Groups by Garry Poole, and very interesting it's been too! Anyway, I just want to share with you part of a very moving poem that is cited in the book:

Do you know

do you understand

that you represent Jesus to me?

Do you know

do you understand

that when you treat me with gentleness,

it raises the question in my mind

that maybe he is gentle, too.

Maybe he isn't someone

who laughs when I am hurt.

...

If you care,

I think maybe he cares-

and then there's this flame of hope

that burns inside of me

and for a while I'm afraid to breathe

because it might go out.

Do you know

do you understand

that your words are his words?

Your face, his face

to someone like me.

Please, be who you say you are.

Please, God, don't let this be another trick

Please let this be real

Please

What moved me about this poem is the significance of relationship in the whole process of evangelism. We've reduced becoming a Christian to nothing more than giving assent to a series of philosophical-religious principles and concepts that we think our role is simply to convince someone that our position is the right position. We seek to win the argument, but in so doing we always run the risk of losing the person.

The person who wrote this poem eventually came to faith. And the reason they decided to trust Jesus, the final compelling argument that tipped the balance and convinced them?

It was nothing like that. It was simply that I met a couple of people who were like Jesus to me. That's all it took.