WINNING PEOPLE

Proverbs 11.30
WINNING PEOPLE
"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise." (11.30)

WE ARE TOLD THAT ONE ROTTEN APPLE will spoil the whole barrel. Badness is infectious. But so is goodness. The life of someone who lives righteously will bear fruit in others as well. He will be a tree of life, a source of delight, nourishment and blessing to those around him.

Some translations like the NEB renders the second part of the verse differently as "but violence means the taking away of lives." Similarly the RSV has it as "but lawlessness takes away lives." This rendering is possible when the Hebrew word for "wise" is taken as the similar sounding word for "violence." The second half of the verse then becomes antithetical rather than complementary to the first.

However, a majority of translations like the NIV, choose the "soul-winning" version. The idea of winning souls (literally, "taking lives") recurs in the New Testament. Jesus' call to the fishermen Peter and Andrew was: "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Mark 1.16-17). Paul's desire was: "To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.... To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (l Cor 9.20,22).

The language of winning suggests an active effort. We do not win people by passively wishing it. The metaphor here has the idea of capturing people with truth. Our world is full of theories that seek to capture the minds and hearts of people. On our part, we are called to win people to the truth of God.

John Sung was probably the greatest Chinese evangelist. Though he died at the prime of his life at only forty-three years of age, his brief ministry was indeed a tree of life with much fruit. It is estimated that between 1933 and 1936 alone, 100,000 Chinese were won for Christ through his preaching. We are unlikely to match him at these, but each one of us is called to "catch fish" and "win" men and women for Christ.

In the world, we admire those who have gambled against the odds, and won. We look up to those who have accomplished much in terms of status, wealth, and acclaim. But Proverbs tells us that true wisdom lies not in winning things, but in winning people. Things will perish one day, but lives won for Christ last for eternity. As James solemnly declares, "Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins" (James 5.20).

Am I winning people over to God?