Being Sold

I don't like being sold.  Whether it be insurance, cars, fitness programs, I find myself getting grumpy when someone tries to force-feed me their stuff.   Especially on something like facebook where I choose not to be a "friend collector" but by and large attempt to friend(verb here) friends. 

A recent example was a friend (I'll call her Jenny) who I once considered one of my closest friends.  When she moved away, we lost touch.  In spite of gentle efforts over the past decade at reconnection, I've always felt an arm's length spread out between us.  Sometimes its like that between old friends.  Someone pulls away.  Not because of anything awful you've done.  Maybe just a choice made. We reconnected via facebook a few years back.  But, there's not been the reconnection of the closeness there once was between us.

Over recent months, I noticed that Jenny was starting a new fitness and weight-loss program.  I also noticed that she was actively attempting to get others to join her program.  It was one of those programs that have been making the rounds.  One of those new, ever-so-slightly more palatable, pyramid schemes.

I think that I had an internal harbinger of things to come from the first, but hope springs eternal...  And, I did hope. That she wouldn't make contact in order to enlist me as Number X of her new pyramid.  Still, I mentioned to my husband the glut of sales pitches on fb recently and I mentioned my old friend.  I told him that, although doubtful (Jenny surely knows me,) I feared I might get a call. 

I did get the call and, no, it wasn't to reconnect and, yes, it was to sell me on the program.  To her credit, she sensed my resistance, said the right things and backed off.

It dawned on me as I was processing my disappointment and dismay post-sales pitch, that this might be how some feel when we as Christians try to share the gospel.  Is it possible they feel sold?

I believe from reading The Bible that its God through His Holy Spirit that draws people into a relationship with Himself.  I also find in scripture, verses that encourage us to share our faith with others.

So, how should we share our faith?  

I think that in the same way that I felt dismay, even hurt, by my friend trying to sell me on the product/scheme instead of attempting to reconnect with me, those that don't yet believe in God might just be feeling hurt, anger and disappointment with our, at times, pushy approach to expression of faith. 

When pushing God, we just might be negating another's right to their own free will, their own (God given) free choice. 

We might even succeed  at selling them.  But is convincing someone the same as conviction?  I think that the "sales pitching" of Christian faith can diminish the power of God's saving grace.

Maybe too, in the hardsell approach, we might actually be exempting ourselves from the work of relating to someone else.  From the work of relationship.  The love and respect that comes from hours spent with someone.  From truly hearing and knowing where someone else is coming from.  We cheat ourselves here.  We sell ourselves short when we don't spend the time to hear another's story.

I hate being sold. I don't want to be a salesman.  But, I do hope that others come to experience the good stuff I've experienced by having a relationship with God.  I hope that in sharing my faith with friends, I honor God and I honor my friends.