When it comes to witnessing, I notice that there are two main motives that people often have for why they are witnessing to someone. The first one is that they are worried about what will happen to the person in Hell if they don't come to God. The second is that they understand a drop of how Jesus sees that person, and they have a desire inside them that wants to love on that person. I've noticed over and over that the first reason for witnessing seems to cause a lot of destruction. People base their "hunger" for the lost on fear, the fear that if they don't get that next person saved, that the person is going to go to Hell; and so it would be partly their fault for that person burning in a lake of fire for all of eternity when they didn't have to. Then they imagine numerous people that could be burning in Hell and that those people burning could be the non-witnessing person's fault. This kind of thought drives them to do act after act to try to get people to pay attention to God; it stays a fear in them, and as a fear, it steals their peace. Why? Because there is always someone else that could be saved; and if they aren't doing something to try to save them, it very well could be partly their fault that that person went to Hell. This makes them goal-oriented instead of relationship oriented, and because their focus is more highly set on getting the person saved than actually on the person himself, they violate the people they are interacting with, because they set this person as an objective instead of valuing the person of whom the objective may be a part of. The same thing happens when a man approaches a woman simply for sex, or even simply having it as his main focus (I'm talking like a random guy is looking at a random female)- it devalues the person because that person isn't just sex. When we focus on people as just an objective, "Got to get them to Jesus," we devalue all the beauty that God put there and the person as a whole, and it is part of why people run from such Christians. Nobody wants to be looked at like they are only useful as a trophy for someone else, and this doesn't change when being approached with the gospel.
The second motive I mentioned about why people witness, because they simply want to love on the other person (platonically), I've seen give far better results. Seeing a teenage girl who just got pregnant and feeling compassion for her and so trying to make her life not so burdensome- is one example. Notice I didn't mention about the gospel being overtly preached there. As well, seeing someone in a financial crisis, maybe laid off from a job, and so offering to help a bit with their bills so they can stay on their feet. Even simply kicking back and having fun with people, because you like to see people in good cheer. These things turn people toward God, and yet most of these acts don't have to include "By the way, have you heard about Jesus?" Why? Because God is love. So by experiencing love, people experience God. As it is written: "4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" Romans 2:4. And again "14The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " Galatians 5:14. The whole Bible is summed up in this: Love. It's the battery that everything runs on. And while the gospel still needs to be preached, there is a proper timing for everything; as it is written "6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." 1 Corinthians 3:6. A seed can't be harvested, it has to grow into a plant first. And in the same way, people can't simply be brought to God at any time, they have to grow toward God, and eventually they become ripe/ready. But until then, our job is simply to till a little soil, add a little water- add love into their lives until they realize God is worth going after.
