These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? ....And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. - John 6:59-60, 65-66 (KJV)
Many church going Christians have expressed concern about being too open and too bold about their faith saying they don't want to be responsible for driving people away from Christ.
While we should not be obnoxious, the fear of something we say or do driving people away from Christ is, perhaps, unfounded. Someone taking offence at something we say or do may not mean we did something wrong; perhaps it means we did something exactly right.
We could be left being more concerned than Jesus about who came to him and who didn't. We shouldn't hide our light under a bushel (Matthew 5:15) because someone may get angry and refuse to come to it.
Sometimes our stated concern about not wanting to push someone away from Christ is really a concern about them pushing away from us and the possible consequences to ourselves rather than to the cause of Christ.
- Fritz.
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