5 Biblical Truths You Need to Hear
I receive so many letters from people who feel utterly alone in their faith. They try to witness for Christ and His kingdom, sharing the truths they hold so dear with friends, family, and neighbors, only to see practically no result. They get discouraged. They write to me thinking they’re doing something wrong, that it’s all their fault.
This is a burden that weighs heavily on my heart, I don’t convince very many people. So if you’ve only convinced one or two, please, don’t get discouraged.
The despondency you feel often comes from a misunderstanding of what the scriptures actually ask of us. If you feel like a failure for not seeing results, the Bible offers a perspective that can release you from that burden. Let’s explore five surprising truths that can free you from the pressure to perform and restore your joy.
- Your Primary Mission Isn’t Converting Outsiders—It’s Building Up Believers
In many church cultures, we’re taught that our main job is to go out and “save souls” to get “stars in your crown.” The implication is that if you aren’t bringing new people in, you aren’t really doing the work. The Bible, however, presents a radically different, and much more focused, priority.
In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul explains that Christ gave gifts to the church—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. But look closely at their purpose. Verse 12 states these gifts were given for: “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
Think about that. The primary goal of these powerful ministries is to strengthen and mature those who already believe. Why? So that we “be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” The first priority is to get the church of God straightened up, filled with truth so we won’t be deceived. Before we worry about everyone else, we are called to build up the body of Christ.
- You Are Instructed to Stop Trying with Those Who Refuse to Listen
Endlessly pursuing someone who continually rejects the message is not only frustrating; it’s unbiblical. Many of us feel a heavy obligation to go back again and again, but this can build up a bitterness in our own hearts as we wonder, “Why can’t I make them see?”
Scripture gives us permission—in fact, a command—to stop. Paul’s instruction to his fellow minister Titus is shockingly direct:
A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject.
—Titus 3:10
The reason is practical: continuing is fruitless. Paul says such a person “is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself” (v. 11). Jesus gave his own disciples the same instruction in Matthew 10:14, telling them if a city won’t receive their words, they should leave and “shake off the dust of your feet.”
This instruction is profoundly liberating. I once received a letter right before speaking at a conference in Omaha, Nebraska. It was from a man in that very city who had been studying his Bible alone and had come to understand the same truths we teach. He felt completely isolated and was desperate for fellowship. Meanwhile, the local ministry team in Omaha was discouraged because they felt they weren’t reaching anyone. They were spending weeks, months, and years on the same resistant people, while a receptive heart was waiting right there in their own city, undiscovered. Don’t waste your time on those who refuse to hear; God may have someone just around the corner waiting for the very message you have to share.
- Some People Cannot Be Convinced, and It’s Not Your Fault
This is a hard truth, but it’s a necessary one. Some people are simply not receptive to spiritual things, and it is not a failure of your presentation. As 1 Corinthians 2:14 states, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.” To them, the Gospel is nonsense.
The Bible takes this principle even deeper. In 2 Thessalonians 2, we learn about those who are perishing, and the reason is specified: it is “because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.” Their rejection comes first. And because of that willing rejection, a staggering spiritual consequence follows.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.
—2 Thessalonians 2:11
Read that again. If God Himself sends a delusion upon those who have willfully refused the truth, how can we possibly think it is our fault when they cannot be convinced? The responsibility shifts entirely from the messenger to the spiritual state of the hearer. The passage makes it clear why they are so unreceptive: they “had pleasure in unrighteousness.” They actively enjoy falsehood and are hostile to a message of truth. You cannot sell water to a man who loves being thirsty.
- You Are the Messenger, Not the Source of the Results
The pressure to produce results can be crushing. But the Bible places the outcome of our efforts squarely and solely in God’s hands. Paul uses a simple farming analogy in 1 Corinthians 3: “I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”
Our role is simply to be “laborers together with God.” We do the work of planting and watering—sharing the message—but the growth, the “increase,” is a divine act that belongs to God alone. Paul drives the point home to remove all doubt:
So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that waterth, but God that giveth the increase.
—1 Corinthians 3:7
This truth removes the burden of performance. It has always brought me great joy at our conferences when I talk to people afterward. They will share a powerful truth they learned from a sermon, but most of the time they have forgotten which speaker said it. And I say, praise the Lord! They remember the truth, not the man who delivered it. The messenger is nothing. If God’s Word is being revealed to you, it is coming from God. Your success is defined by your faithfulness to plant and water, not by the harvest you can count.
- Their Rejection is Not About You
When we share our faith, we are vulnerable. A “no” can feel like a deep personal rejection. Jesus, however, prepares us for this by revealing who is truly being rejected. As He sends His disciples out in Luke 10 “as lambs among wolves” (v. 3), He gives them this stunning perspective:
He that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me, and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
—Luke 10:16
When someone despises the message of the kingdom, they are not despising you. They are rejecting Christ and the Father who sent Him. This understanding should remove the personal sting from the experience.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there. After acknowledging the pain of rejection, He turns to His disciples and reframes their entire experience not as one of failure, but of profound privilege. He says to them privately: “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Luke 10:23-24). Every time you are rejected, you can remember this: you have been blessed to see a truth that generations have longed for.
Conclusion: A New Focus for Your Faith
When we put these truths together, a new, lighter path appears. Your mission is to build up the church. You have permission to walk away from those who won’t listen. You can accept that some will never be convinced, trust God with all results, and know that rejection isn’t personal.
We can now pivot from the frustration of what we can’t do—force belief—to the joy of what we can do. As Paul wrote, “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren… because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Let this shift your focus. Instead of being discouraged by a closed door, turn around and give thanks for the glorious truth that has been opened to you.
Instead of asking, “How can I convince them?,” what if we started asking, “How can I better thank God for what He’s revealed to me and help build up the believers around me?”