Romans 6:16 (NLT) – Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
While reading the New Living Translation’s version of the book of Romans, verse 6:16 jumped out at me as possibly being a great starting point for evangelism. (For some of us, just the thought of evangelism can be quite scary.) Anyway, it occurred to me that this verse’s opening question is an excellent spring board to maybe get a person to think about what they might be a slave to. Paul’s question can be asked verbatim, or it could be repurposed to fit either the occasion of the encounter or the personality of the one looking for an opportunity to evangelize. For example, how might you respond if I asked you…
“Have you ever thought about the fact that we are slaves to whatever we obey?”
I have to admit that this would have certainly given me pause if I was asked this question prior to becoming a Christian. (Heck, it even gives me pause now!) Even if the person being challenged came back with…
“What do you mean?”
…the second half of the verse could then also be repurposed, which might then help to possibly move the person that you are talking with to at least consider the Gospel message. The one evangelizing could then respond with something like…
“The Bible says that there are really only two choices in life… life or death. In other words, it says that when we choose to obey sin, we then only gain death. However, when we choose to obey Jesus (even if we have sinned) we then gain life.”
Who knows where that might lead?
Godspeed, to the brethren.
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