Jesus and the Encyclopedia Salesman

When is the President, or someone with awesome authority, going to do something about these kiosk crazies who mosey after innocent passers-by trying to sell soap or some other crazy beauty product. 

They ask questions like, "Can I show you something?" and, "Can I ask you a question?" I am so scared of making eye contact with these people that I have actually pretended to be on the phone as I pass by the kiosk. 


Pretending to be on the phone is easy enough if you act as though you are being lectured. This way you do not have to say anything. You just hold the phone to your head and nod. 

These salespeople are so persistent that I fear the repercussions of telling them no. If I decline their advances, one might chase me down and strangle the life out of me with their eyebrow floss.

On a positive side, at least they don't come to my door. I can't imagine living in an era when Encyclopedia salesmen wandered the land.

I would have lived in fear.

Sales confrontations are difficult for me when I can run away, I cannot fathom having this type of encounter with a man or woman in my living room.

Luckily, this is not a problem because Encyclopedia salesmen do not exist. They are extinct for a couple of very good reasons.

1. Their tactics grew tired. 


Frankly, it is quite rude to blindly knock on a stranger's door and offer them something they did not ask you to offer them. Knocking on a door unannounced and uninvited could possible interrupt a meal, family time, or a child's nap. It is simply not courteous.

2. Their product does not meet a need.


People no longer have a need for pure information. Sure, we like to know things and enjoy a good learning, but the internet (motto: "Making the smart smarter and the dumb dumber ever since Al Gore invented me.") can now meet this need for knowledge free of charge.

What the world desires now is relationship

Back in the day of the Encyclopedia salesman, relationships were everywhere. You knew your grocer, your pharmacist, your neighbor, the gas station attendant, and the lady that waited on you at the bank. You even knew the name of the man who was selling you Encyclopedias.

In the days of relationships, information came in bound, multi-volume sets and cost hundreds.

Now that we live in the information age, knowledge is free if one can properly discern trash from truth.

So, what the world desires now is relationship. Even on the vast information superhighway, the most popular sights are social in nature.

I say all of this because our church (at least my tradition) has been stuck in an information based evangelism practice for years ("Let me tell you what you need to know, and then you will become a Christian"). We have been passing out pamphlets. Seriously...is this the best we have to offer?

Whenever someone hands me a pamphlet, I always want to respond, "Tell your printer I said thanks for caring about my soul."

Relationships are hard. They are messy. They are stressful at times. But it is what the world needs and it what our God desires.

So do not sell Jesus short by trying to sell him to a stranger. Instead, create relationships with your neighbors that resemble the relationship you have with your creator. God can handle the rest.