Let’s examine the first process.

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens wide, pop pill into mouth.
2. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
3. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa and repeat process.
4. Take new pill from foil wrap, force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger and hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from behind your toolbox and get another pill from foil wrap.
6. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans.
7. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye.
8. Call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

Sometimes the 2nd process, leading a man to Christ, seems strangely similar. If you’re shaking your head in agreement, then you and I are kindred spirits. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

In the first process (described above), a man was imposing his will on the poor feline. Yes, the cat needed the pill, but it was the man dictating the how and the when. Are there times when we do the same thing to a non-believer? Have you ever wanted your friend or family member to know Christ so badly, that you resorted to a sledgehammer mentality only to find they are now behind the sofa or toolbox?

Sharing God’s Word with the lost first requires each of us to invest in a man’s heart. What does it say in Matthew 6:21? “For where your treasure is, there will your heart also be.” Sometimes discerning where a man is can be a lengthy process as anyone who has discipled another person in OT can attest. Tilling the “emotional soil” is extraordinarily important before we can ever hope to plant the seed.

With spring coming, think of it this way: if you’re trying to get a shovel to go through frozen or hardened winter turf so you can begin your spring planting, what are the chances of tilling enough of that soil to get the seedlings to take? And if the seeds won’t germinate, will there ever be a healthy lawn, showy flowers, or healthy shrubs?

Men, we must take the time to cultivate because only through that investment can we ever hope to sow the seed. If you are faithful to this process, your cat will be a whole lot happier, and the man you are leading toward Jesus will feel you genuinely care about him.

So, now you tell me—given what you know now, will your focus be on the pill or the man?