Maybe you’ve seen that video created by two Harvard psychologists. It’s become one of the best-known experiments in psychology. I think it’s become so popular because it reveals how we see our world -- and how we don’t see it.
In the experiment, test subjects were told they would see a short video of a team in white T-shirts and a team in black T-shirts. They were told to count the number of times those in white passed the ball to each other.
But in the midst of all the basketball passes, someone in a gorilla suit walked into the frame, beat its chest, and walked out. At the end of the video, the viewers were asked how many passes they counted. Then they were asked whether they had seen anything unusual. In every setting where the video has been shown, only about half noticed the gorilla. There’s no accounting for age or gender or level of education: Some see it, and some don’t.
I see a lesson on evangelism here. Opportunities for spiritual conversations show up in our lives all the time, but we often miss them. We’re too busy counting basketball passes. Our whole focus is on getting through football practice or band practice or completing our school assignments. Our whole focus is on our work obligations or meeting budget. Our whole focus is on the fact that we don’t feel well, and the doctor hasn’t quite figured out how to fix it. We’re just counting basketball passes; and right in the middle of it all, opportunities for natural spiritual conversations arise like a gorilla beating his chest, and we don’t even notice.
In Colossians 4:5-6, Paul wrote, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
Notice he did not say, “Make opportunities.” Rather, he said, “Make the most of every opportunity.” In other words, evangelism isn’t artificially shoe-horning Jesus into conversations that weren’t already heading that way. Evangelism is just walking through the open doors for spiritual conversations. We just need to be sensitive to those times.
We discussed this in last week’s message. If you need to review it or join the study for the first time, watch here.
Tom
Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.