So here is my take on one aspect of why Christians try so hard to share our faith.   

Your impression of Christians is probably quite low. Maybe you feel that Christians are self-righteous “scum” for putting a moral damper on people’s rights to “do whatever feels right to them.” In fact, you consider yourself to be significantly better than most Christians. I get that. You feel like you already know the things I want to say, in fact, you have already anticipated that at some point, I am going to start quoting the Bible. Indeed. Please let me narrate this account found in the book of Second Kings (Old Testament), a historical record of the people of Israel that covers the major events from the reign of King Solomon (~970 BCE, 1 Kings) through to the nation being exiled to Babylon (~586 BCE, end of 2 Kings).

Every ethnic Israeli alive today descended from the people mentioned in the Old Testament, that means if they trace their family tree, it will go all the way up to Abraham right on through to Adam. The people of Israel in those old days were advanced in the treatment of infectious disease because God gave instruction on cleaning surfaces, washing with water, disease isolation and so on. One disease that was somewhat prevalent at that time was leprosy. Leprosy is not terribly contagious now, but back then with people living in much closer quarters without running water on tap, this disfiguring disease was serious. So, lepers were treated as outcasts, the “scum of the earth,” and often forced to live outside city walls or at least distanced from the healthy majority.

In the book of 2 Kings from the Bible, Israel is attacked by the neighboring nation of Aram.* The King of Aram with his army surrounded the walled city of the Israelites. This siege prevented supplies from getting in the city so the people within the walls either starve to death or surrender. And indeed, the Israelites within the walls are starving and tragically resort to cannibalism as the siege drags on. The people of Israel had been especially blessed by God because their forefather Abraham greatly pleased God because he believed God. When God called him to come out of a life of worshipping all the temporary pleasures of this life as all the people were doing, Abraham responded.  

But throughout the history of Israel, there were times that these marked out people turned away from God who really loved them, and in doing so, they turned away from the blessings and the special protection. The surrounding enemies would take opportunity and take advantage of Israel. But whenever Israel would realize what they were doing, the nation would repent, turn back to God, and God would forgive and bail them out.

So that takes us back to the starving Israelites under the siege. Outside the city walls were four lepers. They were also starving, but they had this idea that maybe the attacking Arameans would show them mercy and give them something to eat. If the enemy kills them, they were starving to death anyway. Well, they approached the camp of the Arameans during twilight and found no soldiers, just tents filled with food, supplies, and even valuables. The four of them went from tent to tent, feasting on the abundant food and taking the treasures they found. What happened to the Aramean army? God made the Arameans hear the sound of chariots and galloping horses, like a vast army fast approaching and the Arameans mistakenly assumed that Israel managed to hire a vast mercenary army from another nation or two to fight them. In a panic, the Aramean soldiers fled for their lives on foot leaving everything behind.

As the lepers feasted on the seemingly endless supply, they realized that they needed to let the king know right away so the people inside the walls could come out and be fed. If they waited until daybreak, they certainly would face the consequences of keeping this from their own people. So, in the dark of night, they went to the gate keepers to tell them that there are no soldiers left at the Aramean camp, just the horses, and donkeys, and tents full of supplies. The king didn’t believe them. It took a lot of convincing and finally some wise servants of the king convinced the king to at least send some people to check out their story. Well, they found things just as the lepers described and as they opened the gates, the starving people rushed out of the walled city to find food and supplies and treasures and freedom, just as these despised lepers had said.

So, though you might despise us Christians, and see us as the lepers of our day, we are compelled to come to you and do our best to convince you that we once were starving, too, but we found food, treasure, freedom, and life. Turn to Christ. There will come a day, if you ignore our pleadings now and the opportunities that God has been providing you, with friends who share with you the good news, with family members that invite you to church, even the pull of your own heart strings, if you reject Christ time and again, there might come a day, when everything comes to light, you might tell us all, why didn’t you try harder to convince me.

* 2 Kings 6:24~7:18