As we were walking along one day, my middle-school-aged grandson picked something up off the ground.

"What did you find?" I asked him.

"A pull tab. Our school is collecting them," he answered. "They make wheelchairs out of them." I smiled to myself, considering with amusement the urban legends about the value of pull tabs. Unfortunately, there is no facility that melts down aluminum pull tabs from soda cans and makes wheelchairs out of them. A pound of pull tabs — 1267 of them — recycles for 15 cents, but a million of them brings $118 for charity.

For decades, people have believed that pull tabs (or pop tabs) are valuable. Several organizations, such as March of Dimes Canada, have redeemed the situation by facilitating the collection of pull tabs for a good cause. They receive bags full of them, collected by schools, churches, and youth organizations, and sell them to recycling centres. The proceeds are used to buy mobility equipment, like wheelchairs, for needy people. That's the real truth.

Just as my grandson's perception was limited, so is the understanding of those who rely on human wisdom rather than on wisdom revealed by the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:14 – People who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. (NLT)

Anything spiritual doesn't make sense to unbelievers. Merely spouting words when sharing the good news with them is like a child believing that wheelchairs can be built from melted-down pull-tabs. Like the child, unbelievers don't perceive the real truth. They just don't get it.

How do we, who are Christians, go about explaining God's wonderful good news to those who can't take it in?

The process starts with prayer.

• Jude 1:20b – Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. (NLT)
• Luke 18:1b – Always pray and never give up. (NLT)
• Hosea 10:12b – Plow up the hard ground of your hearts. (NLT)

We must continually pray that the Spirit would illuminate the minds of unbelievers, plowing up the hard ground of their hearts, so that they, too, can be born again and be able to appreciate the wonderful things that God wants to give them.

1 Corinthians 2:13 – When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. (NLT)

Preparing in prayer equips us to speak the Spirit's words, so that unbelievers' hearts can receive the truth. When we have the mind of Christ, the words that we speak can give birth to spiritual results. Let's remember to prepare the hearts of our unbelieving friends and family members by praying for them, before we attempt to explain God's truth to them.

Prayer: Help us, Lord, to remember to pray for those with whom we want to share the gospel. Plow up the soil of their hearts, so that they will be ready to receive the wonderful truth of salvation through Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Alice Burnett <terrencera.burnett@gmail.com>
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
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