Our Heart in Apologetics #1: Introduction

Our Heart in Apologetics #2: Making Disciples

Our Heart in Apologetics #3: 5 Things to Remember about Unbelievers

Humility and Pride cannot occupy the same space, they are at odds with each other!  We learn in the Bible that God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; Proverbs 16:5).  Jesus extend an invitation for every person to come to Him when He states, “come to my all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest. …let me teach you as I am humble and at heart (Matthew 11:28-29).  James 2:1 tells us that we are not to hold our faith in the Lord Jesus with an attitude of personal favoritism.  James then follows by admonishing us not to honor one person over another because that is judgmental and evil in the sight of God (James 2:9).

The practice of Apologetics always requires a heart check because pride can be strong, enlarge our blind spots and distort our vision of other people.  Nothing can be as intoxicating as the desire to be right when defending what we have placed our faith in, and the practice of apologetics will expose this in us.  Because of this grave danger, our approach to apologetics must be one of heart and mind, not just mind.  To reduce apologetics to an intellectual task will also reduce the person we are engaging to an opponent, a task, a project, a prize to be won, or yet worse, an enemy!  Therefore, a disposition of love and a heart posture of humility is required of those engage in these conversations for the sake of the hearer, for the glory of God and for our call to love God and love people.

So, we start with the three passages above as a personal spiritual health check.   A good passage that will help align our hearts with God’s is in Colossians 4:1-6, which we are going to walk through in this post and those to follow.

Colossians 4:1 – 6: Preparing our hearts for the Work God has planned

Colossians 4:1: Attitude of Humility

¹ Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.

• Humility is a uniquely Christian character trait that grows in our heart through a response of gratitude and thanksgiving for the grace and mercy we have received. It reflects a true understanding of our condition of being poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3), plagued with sin (Romans 3:23; Isaiah 64:6) and need for a Savior (John 14:6; Matthew 18:14; Ephesians 2:1-10).
• We give thanks for our accolades, titles, positions or accomplishments, and always remember that we have a Master in heaven; we are to live our entire lives with that reverence for our Father in heaven.
  • See 1Corinthans 10:31; Colossians 3:23
• Mark 10:45 – The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to offer His life as a ransom for many.

To follow Jesus means to reflect the life of Jesus to others by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.  Scripture calls us to walk in a manner worthy of His calling (Ephesians 4:1), which means that we are seeking to live out the graciousness and mercy that He extends to us.  It is that grace and mercy which transforms our hearts to be more like Christ in our encounters with people.  This is the disposition we carry into apologetics so that we can assist people in getting over barriers to faith.  One last item of note is that a heart attitude of humility guides us to meet someone in their faith journey, do our part, and then trust God to take care of the rest.  We may be sowing for others to reap later, or we may reap what others have sown, so be discerning to accept the role God is giving you in each encounter, we need to be content to do our parts and avoid the pitfall of sloppy agape!