He Who Wins Souls Is Wise
He Who Wins Souls Is Wise
I want to speak to you tonight about the verse that says: “He who wins souls is wise” (Prov. 11:30), because our most important mission in life is to win people:
We win souls for God, and we win them in our relationship with them.
When the Lord Christ called Peter and Andrew, He said to them: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Thus their mission was to win souls. It is the same mission He meant by His saying: “And you shall be My witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
He who wins souls is wise.
The first winner of souls, wise in winning them, is God Himself…
He who, for the sake of winning these souls, came down from heaven and was incarnate, was humiliated, crucified, and died. For these souls He sent His Son, and sent His Holy Spirit, and sent the prophets, the apostles, the shepherds, and the evangelists.
Among the deepest words about winning souls are those of the Apostle Paul:
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law… to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:19–22).
He is determined to win souls. A wise fisherman casts his net and must return with it full… Thus was the Lord Christ; it was said of Him that “He went about doing good.” He won people in various ways and methods: by preaching, by healing, by compassion, by love… by every means.
Therefore it was said of Him as a winner of souls: behold, all have gone after Him.
When He entered Jerusalem, the city was shaken at His coming. When He entered houses, they were crowded so that there was no room even to stand. In the story of the paralytic, because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof and lowered him down. In the miracle of the five loaves and the two fish, the number of men—besides women and children—was five thousand…
Win people by love:
The first means by which we win souls is love…
If you do not love people, and if they do not love you, you cannot lead them to God. People are inclined to listen to those whom they love… The person who is repelled by you, you have lost in your relationship with him, and you cannot attract him to God; he will not listen to you. But the one whom you love may love God because of you…
Among the manifestations of your love for people is that you bear with them, for love “bears all things” (1 Cor. 13:7).
Every person in the world has his mistakes and weaknesses. If you keep watching people’s mistakes and holding them accountable for them, the result will be that you lose people and they lose you. Therefore bear with people.
One whose mistakes you bear; another whose talkativeness you bear; a third whose ignorance you bear; a fourth whose weakness you bear; a fifth whose temper you bear… etc.
As a symbol of the priest’s longsuffering and endurance, his garments are wide and flowing, symbolizing breadth of heart. For the one who is narrow-hearted loses people. The Lord Christ bore the sins of the whole world…
Among the examples of God’s endurance toward people is that there are millions of atheists who deny the existence of God or blaspheme Him, and He endures them without punishment…
How easy it would be for God to destroy all these, yet He is silent, enduring. Perhaps this generation may not be saved, but the next generation may attain salvation. Thus God endures those who mock religion and godliness…
Bear with people in love, and you will gain them, for love never fails.
The Scripture says: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink” (Rom. 12:20).
If someone treats you badly and you endure him in kindness, then by enduring him, as the Scripture says, “you will heap coals of fire on his head” (Rom. 12:20), as a man once said to someone who endured him: “You are killing me with your nobility! You are crushing me with your courtesy!” He saw his old man being crushed…
How easy it is to overcome people by nobility, as the Scripture says: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).
Try, for example, when someone wrongs you, to be the first to seek to rescue him when he falls into trouble… Try abundant courtesy in responding to someone careless in his words. No doubt he will despise himself and respect you…
There is a person who thinks he takes his right by avenging himself…
But in revenge you lose people, you lose yourself, and you lose God. You lose your eternity and even your right. He who wins souls is wise.
And just as you win people by love, endurance, and good treatment, win them also by wisdom.
Win people by wisdom:
The Lord Christ cares that we be wise, to the extent that He praised the unjust steward “because he had dealt wisely” (Luke 16:8). He praised the wisdom in him, not the injustice. And while the Lord rebukes the serpent and makes it a name for Satan, He says: “Be wise as serpents” (Matt. 10:16), praising the wisdom in it. And the Scripture says: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.”
Because the deacons also work in winning souls, the holy apostles required, in choosing the seven deacons, that they be “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3).
It would have been possible to suffice with the condition of being full of the Holy Spirit, considering that He is the Spirit of wisdom and counsel and understanding, and He gives wisdom. But the holy apostles emphasized this attribute of wisdom…
The Apostle Paul said: “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age” (1 Cor. 2:6). It is not worldly wisdom…
Likewise the Apostle James spoke about “the wisdom that is from above”
He said: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits” (James 3:17). Thus he distinguished it from earthly wisdom, in which there is “envy and self-seeking… confusion and every evil thing” (James 3:16). And he said: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom” (James 3:13).
Evil wisdom we sometimes call cunning and malice. In it the wicked may devise conspiracies, intrigues, and lies to reach their aims, often succeeding by human arm and deviation. It has been said of Satan that he is wise in evil. So do not win people by this “sensual, demonic” wisdom, but by the spiritual wisdom that descends from above.
Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, by wisdom was able to win David the prophet and save him from revenge, and he later married her (1 Sam. 25).
He said to her: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed” (1 Sam. 25:32–33).
The wise person knows when to speak and when to be silent, how to act, and how to win people. Our holy fathers used to teach their children discernment.
The wise man increases the number of his friends, but the fool loses his dearest loved ones…
The wise woman does not lose her husband, and the wise man does not lose his wife. Where there is wisdom, problems are solved. Saint John Chrysostom said: “If you wish to get rid of your enemy, turn your enemy into a friend.”
Of course, there are persons whose friendship is not easy to gain, and the reason lies in them, not in you. As happened with the Lord Christ with the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests, and the elders of the people… though some of them believed later…
Because gaining all people is not easy, the Scripture says: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18).
Winning people may not come by insistence and haste. Perhaps insistence and haste bring an opposite result, because they may tire the nerves of the person you wish to reconcile, or cause him stubbornness, or make him feel your pressure, so he becomes reluctant, proud, and imposes difficult solutions.
The matter comes by wisdom. It may be wise to be patient, and it may be wise to hasten. The wise person knows which is better to address the situation.
One poet said concerning the benefit of patience:
“The one who is patient may attain some of his need,
While with the hasty there may be error.”
Another poet responded:
“And how often has slowness harmed some people,
While it would have been better for them had they hastened.”
The important thing is that a person be wise, as one poet said:
“If you are sending one in a need,
Send a wise man and do not instruct him.”
If you have lost people, perhaps it is due to a lack of wisdom in conduct.
A problem may confront one person and he becomes confused or acts wrongly. The same problem confronts another, and it is solved with utmost ease. Therefore, if you lack wisdom, seek counsel and ask the wise.
Is it not shameful that many people of the world are wise and gain people, while the children of God fail in what those have succeeded?
There is a way by which you win people: first win God…
Win God, and you will win people:
In order to win people, win God first, and win yourself. For the Apostle Paul said: “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). If you gain God, you gain yourself. And if you gain yourself, you will win people, because you will have known the way, experienced wisdom, and learned how to gain people…
Yes, when you remove the plank from your own eye, you will see clearly, and know well how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye, and thus win his soul…
If you have not gained God and have not gained yourself, wait before thinking of winning others, lest they reproach you saying, “Physician, heal yourself.”
He who has lost himself cannot gain others.
He who has not walked in the way does not know how to guide people to it.
He who has not experienced God cannot make people love Him…
Win people by humility:
The proud man does not win people, for they are repelled by him. But he gains them who makes himself less than all and is not puffed up over them.
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