"Go out in the highways and byways and compel them to come in" was a story Jesus told, not an admonition to the Christians to compel people to do anything.

From Bible-school days I have heard the exhortation to buttonhole people and force our testimony on them.

What does the Scripture say about this?

"Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks." To everyone who asks!

Give your answer "with gentleness and respect."

Could the Bible possibly mean what it states, when the leaders are saying we should be forceful and compel people to listen?

"With gentleness and respect" to "everyone who asks you"!

I used to preach that the Kingdom of God is entered by violence, meaning, we must be forceful if we would enter the Kingdom.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. (Matthew 11:12—NIV)

But it used to bother me that the Scripture teaches that the meek and gentle shall inherit the earth.

I have come to think the Lord Jesus was referring to Herod and other wicked men who were trying to force their way by killing John the Baptist and seeking to murder the Lord. I do not see the Lord or His disciples forcing their way into anything.

Violence is simply not the way of Christ!

We are not to dare God or try to force God to do anything. In fact, we are not to force people either. We are to be gentle and respectful at all times.

There is death in the pot when we talk about doing great things for God. I think God is more in the little things than in the great.

Does the following sound like we are to go out and force the world to "accept Christ"?

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (Philippians 4:5—NIV)

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12—NIV)

Mother Basilea Schlink of Darmstadt speaks of the "way of the Lamb." I love this expression. It refers to the fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah where Jesus was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before the shearers standing there in silence and meekness.

I think if the Christian churches through the centuries had practiced the way of the Lamb a much, much better testimony would have been presented to the world.

The Lord Jesus can appear as the good Shepherd, the Lord of Hosts, the Lion, the Lamb, the Atonement for sin, the anointed Deliverer, and in any other manner required by the occasion. But the Bride is never the bride of the Shepherd, or of the Lion, or of the Atonement for sin. The Bride is always the Bride of the Lamb.

To be continued.