Whether you are an unbeliever in Jesus or a believer, we are all called by God to minister to others by gently leading the way to Jesus. This post then is for everyone, and in it I will explain the things that must be received by the individual if they are to be converted to Jesus.

To begin, God says, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:14. What does this mean? The answer is that you yourself must first be converted to Jesus before you can lead someone to Jesus, otherwise you are like the blind leading the blind. It’s that simple.

If you are not sure who Jesus and God are, continue reading and I will explain.

Before I continue though, let me give a note for those who are new to Bible notation. When we write, for example, “Matthew 15:14,” we are referring to the Bible, which is a collection of books. Each book in the Bible consists of one or more chapters, and each chapter has numbered sections called verses. The quotation referred to as “Matthew 15:14” is taken from the book in the Bible titled Matthew, the 15^th chapter, and the 14^th verse.

Our Bible Verse of Focus

Now a godly man named Jacob said, “Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly [gently], according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.” Genesis 33:14.

Here we find, symbolically, in this our Bible verse of focus in this post, the concept of leading people on gently to Jesus by opening the Scriptures (the Bible) to them as fast as they can endure it.

Notice then that the title of this post is Gently Leading the Way to Jesus, with an emphasis on gently. This is crucial as the very mention of God, Jesus, or anything spiritual, can have the result that some people have “stopped their ears.” Acts 7:57. They refuse to listen to anything said along these lines. So then gently leading the way to Jesus is the way to go at all times.

Who is God and Who is Jesus?

Obviously, we cannot lead the way to Jesus unless we ourselves believe in, and know who Jesus is, and also who God is. Here I would gently ask those who have doubts that God even exists to listen with an open mind.

And never enter into controversy or debate with anyone about spiritual matters. For then they have stopped listening to you and are now solely bent upon proving their own point of view.

To answer our question, God is the name given to a divine Family called “the Godhead” (Acts 17:29) in the Bible. This Family, the Godhead, consist of three Persons who are each “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.” Hebrews 7:3.

No, there are not three Gods! These members of the Godhead never contradict each other at any time. That is, they speak with one voice, and so we can say, “There is one God.” Mark 12:32.

The fact that there are three members of the Godhead is something that many people stumble over and cannot quite grasp as a concept. The problem arises because they are thinking of God in human terms. But God is not human, and our finite minds can never completely understand the nature of the infinite God. That is to say, the infinity of God’s knowledge and wisdom can never fit into our finite minds.

Very gently then explain this concept of the Godhead and then move on to other teachings. For God Himself will teach the person all they need to know about Him if they do not stop their ears.

What are the names of these three Persons in the Godhead? Their names are “the Father” (Matthew 11:27), “the Son” (Psalm 2:12) also called “Christ” (Matthew 1:1), and “the Holy Spirit” (Psalm 51:11).

So, who is Jesus? Jesus is just the name that was given to Christ when He was born as a baby boy on earth over 2,000 years ago. Jesus died “for the sins [the evil and wrongdoings] of the whole world” (1 John 2:2), rose from the dead to live again, and has ascended to heaven from where He had come to the earth.

What can we say that God’s character is like? Well, God speaking of Himself, says that He is “God, that cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) and “God is love.” 1 John 4:8. That is to say that each member of the Godhead has a character identical to that of the others. In other words, “The LORD [God] is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” Psalm 145:17.

All of what has been said so far establishes a well-defined terminology for further discussion and lays the foundation for a knowledge of God.

The Mystery of Conversion to Jesus

Now “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him [Jesus] whom he [the Father] hath sent [to the earth].” John 6:29. We see then that conversion to Jesus is the result of the work of God.

How does God work? This is a mystery and our role in the process is to become “labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9), gently seeking to attract people to God.

Gently Leading the Way to Jesus and Prayer

We come now to prayer. What is prayer? It is a two-way communication between us and God. We speak to God and God answers us, rarely in an audible voice, but often by referring us to the Bible.

And God says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man [person] availeth much.” James 5:16. So, we must pray for blessings upon the lives of those we wish to gently lead to Jesus.

Likewise, we must first of all teach them to pray to God themselves. We must tell them that God says, “And ye shall seek me [God], and find me [God], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.

Thus, we should gently encourage them to pray even if they do not believe that God exists. Ask them to lay aside their unbelief and doubts and speak to God and so prove to themselves that God makes Himself known to them that sincerely seek Him.

Gently Teaching About Sin

No one can be led to Jesus without an understanding of sin, which is evil and wrongdoing.

Tell them that God created the first human pair, a man named Adam and a woman named Eve, with a character of love identical to that of God’s character. However, both Adam and Eve fell into sin by yielding to Satan’s temptation to sin.

Who is Satan? He is an angel who rebelled against God in heaven and caused other angels to join him in his rebellion. And because Satan and his “evil angels” (Psalm 78:49) refused to stop sinning, God cast them out of heaven.

Here in speaking about Adam, Eve, and Satan, you need to gently state the truth and not enter into any controversy with them.

Next tell them that all of Adam’s and Eve’s descendants, that is, the whole human race, have inherited their disposition to sin. So, “all [humanity] have sinned, and come short of the glory of God [failed to imitate God’s character of love].” Romans 3:23.

Now this last point that the whole human race is sinful, with no exceptions, is hard for people to hear and to accept. For “every way of a man [person] is right in his [their] own eyes.” Proverbs 21:2. Thus, people do not want to believe that they themselves are evil and so you need to gently press home the truth to their minds.

Tell them that God gently says to the whole human race, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD [God]: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they [your sins] be red like crimson, they shall be [white] as wool.” Isaiah 1:18.

This is a call from God for them to acknowledge their sins and to turn away from them. So, gently encourage them to sincerely pray to God for Him to reveal their sinfulness to them, and to help them to turn away from all their sins.

Gently Teaching About Jesus

Once again, we come to the subject of Jesus. God says, “The wages of sin is [eternal] death [which is to be annihilated by God]; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23.

Here is good news! But for some people Jesus Christ is “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word [of God, the Bible], being disobedient.” 1 Peter 2:8. This is where again we need to lead gently to Jesus.

Why are people offended by the good news about Jesus? Because God says, “Humble yourselves…under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time [to eternal life with Him].” 1 Peter 5:6. However, some people instead “being lifted up with pride…[they] fall into the condemnation of the devil [Satan].” 1 Timothy 3:6.

These people are offended at the thought that their eternal destiny is dependent on Jesus. They want to get to heaven and receive eternal life some other way that does not hurt their pride.

Gently point out to them that “neither is there salvation [the saving from eternal death (annihilation)] in any other [than Jesus]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men [among humanity], whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.

Also, pray with and for them that they will indeed humble themselves before God.

Gently Teaching About Justification

We have seen that eternal life is a gift from God through Jesus, but the question is, How do I take hold of God’s gift?

The answer is simple: Yield to the Holy Spirit so that you “submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil [Satan], and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. What does this mean? The Holy Spirit will lead us to repentance so that we turn away from all our sins and choose to live according to God’s ways of love.

For some people, there is an unwillingness to submit themselves to God’s ways for they want to live as they please. Gently encourage them to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, we will find that “God…[has] granted [us] repentance unto [eternal] life.” Acts 11:18. In other words, God has given us the gift of repentance which is to have deep sorrow for our sins.

In addition, we will find that “God hath dealt to…[us] the [full] measure of faith [in Jesus].” Romans 12:3. This gift of faith is ours to exercise and so God says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved [to eternal life].” Acts 16:31. Now everyone receives the gift of faith from God but without repentance people have a superficial faith and not saving (correct) faith that takes proper hold of God’s truth by the working of the Holy Spirit. This last crowning step of faith in Jesus depends on our yielding to the Holy Spirit.

If the person is still resisting God’s requirements, gently plead with them as well as pray for and with them to submit themselves to God.

Otherwise, praise God, we can now rejoice for those of us who have not rejected any of God’s requirements so far! For now we can truly say that “the love of God is shed abroad [poured] in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit] which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5. Now we can truly love the way God loves!

For “being justified [declared righteous by God] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1), “wherein he [God] hath made us accepted [by God] in the beloved [Jesus].” Ephesians 1:6.

God is well-pleased with your efforts to gently lead in the way to Jesus. For the person has reached the first milestone which is “justification.” Romans 4:25. They only have the second and final step of sanctification to take to be certain of receiving eternal life from God.

Gently Teaching About Sanctification

We come now to the subject of “sanctification” (1 Corinthians 1:30), that is, if you become sanctified you have become sinless and are destined to receive eternal life from God. Note that sanctification is a lifelong process where you “cease to do evil; [and] learn to do well.” Isaiah 1:16, 17.

That is, the justified have now become “partakers of…[God’s] divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) and so they have two natures—the natural sinful nature and the divine nature.

However, “the flesh [the sinful nature] lusteth [wars] against the [Holy] Spirit, and the Spirit [wars] against the flesh [sinful nature]: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17.

Gently tell the persons who are now struggling with sin not to despair. For “there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man [to humanity]: but God is faithful, who will not suffer [allow] you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13.

What is the way of escape? It is prayer and constant, unfailing submission to God. For God says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him [Jesus] that loved us.” Romans 8:37.

Hence, in the face of mighty temptations to sin, gently point out that God has called us to “go on unto perfection” (Hebrews 6:1), which is to go on to sanctification. Therefore, they should never give up but “war a good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18) against sin.

Gently Teaching About Patience

Now we come to the subject of patience such that we do not seek to rush people along to Jesus, but instead we gently lead them to Jesus.

For God says, “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.” Mark 4:26, 27.

“For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade [leaf], then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear [the ripened ear of corn]. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in [reaps with] the sickle, because the harvest is come.” Mark 4:28, 29.

Thus, we know not how long, whether minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years, it will take for a person to be converted to Jesus. We can only follow God’s example.

For God, speaking of Himself, says, “By [God’s] long forbearing [long-suffering] is a prince [person] persuaded, and a soft tongue [by gently pleading words God] breaketh the bone [the resistance to God’s ways].” Proverbs 25:15.

Also, “He [God] that delicately [gently] bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.” Proverbs 29:21. In other words, God gently leads us to become “the children of God” (1 John 3:10) instead of being “the children of the devil [Satan].” 1 John 3:10.

Thus, God has exceeding great patience in seeking to convert persons to Jesus and we should do likewise. We should also recognise that sadly some people will never be converted to Jesus no matter how hard and how gently God and we ourselves try to convert them. Such people will receive eternal death (annihilation) from God.

Gently Leading the Various Minds to Jesus

What I have presented so far in this post are the necessary steps leading to sanctification. This is not to say that everyone will take a straight line through these steps, for the minds of persons differ.

Thus, God says, “And I [God] will bring the blind [the unconverted] by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16.

That is, God in His infinite wisdom and as One who knows all our thoughts is best able to lead the individual to Jesus, if it is at all possible. For some persons resist God’s leading in their lives until they become permanently fixed in their evil ways.

Our job then in all of this is to gently “preach the word [of God, the Bible]; be instant [ready] in season, out of season [at every opportunity]; reprove, rebuke, exhort [encourage] with all longsuffering and doctrine [teachings from the Bible].” 2 Timothy 4:2.

Conclusion

We have in this post taken a lesson from our Bible verse of focus: “Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly [gently], according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.” Genesis 33:14. Thus, we have seen that we must lead gently to Jesus at all times.

Now if you are an unbeliever in Jesus, I as one of the “ambassadors for [Jesus] Christ, as though God did beseech [entreat] you by…[me: I]…pray [beg] you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God [by being converted to Jesus].” 2 Corinthians 5:20.

If you are a believer in Jesus, that is, you are a Christian, I say to you, “God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ…hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18. Therefore, do not neglect to take up this work yourself to gently lead the way to Jesus.

The Bible Teaches Us How to Obtain Eternal Life from God

“In the beginning was the Word [Christ], and the Word [Christ] was with God, and the Word [Christ] was God.” John 1:1. “And the Word [Christ] was made flesh [was born as a baby boy named Jesus], and dwelt among us [human beings], (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father).” John 1:14. Thus, Christ, whose “name is called The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13) is the One who gave the whole Bible to humanity, from the Bible’s beginning to its end. Further, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8), which is to say, Christ is love.

And every one of you as a human being are to “lay apart [put away] all filthiness and superfluity [abundance] of naughtiness [of wickedness], and receive with meekness the engrafted [the implanted] word [from God, which is the Bible and], which is able to save your souls [from annihilation by God as the penalty for sin].” James 1:21. For the word of God, the Bible, being implanted in us means that “the love of God is shed abroad [is poured] in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [the Holy Spirit] which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5. So then, “love is of God; and every one [every human being] that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” 1 John 4:7. This is known as “justification” (Romans 4:25) which is accomplished by our repentance, that is, our deep sorrow for our sins and the gift of faith from God, which when exercised to believe God’s promise of forgiveness of sins and cleansing from sin brings us the gift of love from God. Note that everyone receives the gift of faith from God but without repentance people have a superficial faith and not saving (correct) faith that takes proper hold of God’s truth by the working of the Holy Spirit.

Immediately upon our justification, God tests our character to see if we will successfully resist all temptation to sin. Our success depends on our exercising faith in Christ’s keeping power through the Holy Spirit and, hence, we become sanctified (made holy) and thus receive eternal life from God.

And this is life eternal [everlasting life], that they [as human beings] might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent [to the earth as a Deliverer from sin].” John 17:3. Thus, when the whole Bible makes our character a character of perfect love, it means that we know God and, hence, we will receive eternal life from God.

How This Blog Teaches Bible Study

My blog posts take one or more Bible verses and unpack what is often the hidden meaning in them, to help you to gain in your understanding of the Bible, and to receive insights into how to study it. For God says, “Study [the Bible] to shew [show] thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing [interpreting] the word of truth [the Bible].” 2 Timothy 2:15. There are new blog posts every two weeks on a Monday at 12:01 a.m. in timezone UTC-5 (GMT-5).

Further Reading

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