Confidence and Conversion

Confidence plays no small role in converting a non-hunter into an active and engaged outdoorsman. Building confidence from the perspective of the new hunter is crucial to ensuring that they feel adequately prepared to effectively apply their skills while afield. Skill building is often a foundational stepping stone that establishes an individual in their edification as a hunter. How would one know how to scout, what to look for, or even where to place the cross hairs without essential knowledge of these skills? Practical applications are so important and knowing how and when to do certain acts can be the difference in successful harvests or empty handed walks back to the truck. However, conversion requires more investment than skill building. Yes, new hunters want to know how to hunt, but more importantly they need (and should crave) the answer to why we hunt. Why do we value this sport as highly as we do? Why do we regard the intimacy of hunting as closely as some familial relationships? Again, new hunters desire the confidence to translate skills to results in the field, but more importantly new hunters need confidence that their new role and identity as a hunter carries far more weighty connotations than simply a shopper at nature's grocery store.

Aside from locating a place to pursue game, most new hunters say that the reason for their continued pursuit, or in some cases their dwindling curiosity towards hunting, hinges on their ability to connect with a supportive community that encourages further growth. Perhaps, this struggle is related to the confines of their existing social structures. Most new hunters don’t spring forth from families with deep hunting roots, so in order to find a supportive community of existing hunters they must look elsewhere. I would venture to argue that most new hunters have little problem finding existing hunters. While the majority of Americans do not hunt it is still fairly simple to find those in your area that do. Depending on the circumstances, I could see how some new hunters might have difficulty locating other hunters, but I think more often than not the problem is not finding other hunters, rather it is finding the hunters that effectively communicate the mission of hunting in a way that invites others in as opposed to repelling them away.

For instance, if you were a new hunter with no previous conceptions of what it meant to hunt wild game would you be more inclined to pursue the sport alongside someone who cherishes it as a means to life producing joy and fulfillment of contributing to conservation while supplying needs for oneself and family or from one who simply hunts alone, does not seem interested in the advancement of conservation, and rarely, if ever, is approachable? Both examples could be effective hunters, both examples are needed for conservation and their efforts are much appreciated. Neither is unwanted nor should they be shunned away. My argument is this, the intensity in which we value something, say hunting in this example, should impact the way we pursue it. It should change the way we communicate about it. It should display to others that this is no mere skill building exercise, rather an immensely satisfying way to approach life and said passion. This type of engagement creates confidence not just in one's ability to perform the task, but it reassures the confidence we feel towards the “why”. As a hunter I not only feel confident to harvest game, I feel confident that I belong in this natural cycle. I feel confident that I am investing in something more important than myself. Yes, I might benefit from the investment, but ultimately it is about allowing for more opportunities for others to partake in this enjoyment also. Oh, how I wish that we as hunters communicated our passions in this way. How much more respected and appreciated we would be if this were the case. Not that recognition accounts for anything, but wouldn’t others learn to value our resources and our game if they too heard us talk in this way. How many new hunters might step up on the horizon to carry conservation efforts for years to come if they were surrounded by these types of sportsmen.

And so it is with our faith as well. How many lost souls would come to know Christ if they heard and witnessed Christians communicate and live out their beliefs in this way. In our efforts to convert and make new disciples, do we focus more on “skill building” and spiritual disciplines than we do creating an urgent desire within hungry souls to see and savor God as supremely wonderful? Church attendance, bible reading, and prayer are so important to the development of new Christians, just as scouting, field dressing experience, and range practice are to new hunters. Are hungry souls really looking for new “skills” though or are they looking for new life and purpose? I don’t believe that one could ever read the bible enough to become a convert outside of the mysterious work of the spirit, just as one could never spend enough time at the range to all of a sudden identify as a hunter because of repetition and practice. No, there must be more. It is not until our hearts and minds are enlightened to the “why” that we gain anything from bible reading or range time. Until God does the work within us through his grace will we not see any real value in spiritual disciplines.

So my question is this, as Christians are we cultivating a culture that invites others to love God with all our heart, all our minds, and all our strength or are we diminishing the soul saving work of Christ to mere skills to be learned? Maybe it's not that we aren’t encouraging lovers of God and disciplined followers, but that we just need to rearrange the order in which we communicate practical applications and love. Maybe, like so many hunters, we have more confidence in our abilities and skills than we do confidence to explain to others why we do what we do. Why are you a Christian? Is it because you grew up performing spiritual acts or is it because God grabbed your heart and radically changed it? Did you do anything to establish your status as a born again believer, because I cannot say that I did. I became a Christian and wake up each day a believer not because of my efforts or routines or because I chose to be, but because God in his grace has called me and continues to do so through the wondrous works of sanctification. He is changing my heart in a way that makes it long for more of him. This ever increasing desire is a gift and what drives my growth in spiritual discipline.

All too often though I feel that I don’t convey the magnitude of God in my life as I should. In other words, I feel a lack of confidence on my part to communicate how great His love is and how much more desirable he is than anything else. Am I being effective in sharing his truth with others? Am I living a life of intense pursuit of Him in a way that captures the attention of those around me? Do I give him all glory in any achievement? While I feel lacking in my own confidence to communicate his glory, I have no lack in confidence regarding the effectiveness of his gospel truth found in Christ. His works still work. His love still covers a multitude of sins. His grace is still free and freeing. My failure or inadequacy as a communicator is not greater than the power of his spirit and his ability to change hearts. He is still and will forever be enough to accomplish his good purpose that he outlined long ago.

My prayer is that I would strive to be faithful in living in such a way that others see within me an intensity to know Christ and make him known. God raise up a generation of Christians that have abounding confidence in the “why” of life, that is to make Christ known and see him as all powerful and glorious. Remind us that our ultimate purpose is to give you glory and in doing so we have richness and joy in all matters of life. While we might not always be confident or effective communicators in our flesh I pray that others would see an undying confidence that we hold in our Savior and his ability to seek and save the lost, even if he uses us imperfect believers to be his hands and feet.