Letter to a lost brother

A sweet lady at our church wrote me this week to ask me to look at a draft of a letter she wants to give her brother, who is not a Christian and who has asked his sister not to talk about spiritual things with him. I shared a few principles with her as she drafts her letter, and I thought they might be helpful to you, too.

I'm so thankful you're burdened for your brother's eternity. Here are
some of my thoughts:

- Be sure to include some Scripture. You might want to include
Scriptures about how to be saved (I like to use Mark 1:15 in my
invitations, as you heard Sunday) and perhaps Scriptures about
eternity for those who do not trust Christ. Including Bible verses in
a letter to a non-believer might sound like a bad idea at first, but
it's God's Word and not our words that "is living and active, sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of
spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and
intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). And Paul writes in Romans 10:17
that "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of
Christ." So, you'll want to give him some Bible. The Bible is not a
good luck charm or a magical talisman, of course, but its words are
nonetheless supernatural. He will tune out your words more easily than
he will be able to tune out the Word of Almighty God.

- While you won't want to write something so long that he won't read
it, don't over think the letter either. Remember, if someone has never
been saved, they're already "turned off" to the Gospel, so we don't
need to fear that something we say or do, in an attitude of godly love
and sincerity, will turn them off further. In witnessing, we always
want to be careful to let the Gospel be the offensive news, and not
our own words or attitudes, but that is no danger in your letter. Your
words are clearly those from a loving sister.

- I can be a bit of a control freak, so I don't always gladly receive
this news, but it's true nonetheless: God does the harvesting, we can
only do the sowing. So, again, while you're rightly burdened for your
brother, be content to give him the unadulterated Gospel, then trust
God for the results.

I hope I've helped. Feel free to write again. I'm praying even now
that God will save your brother.