11 Knowing, then, the fear of the Lord, we persuade people.

Recently, a friend asked me, “Johnnie, what do you know now, that you didn’t know before you got involved in politics?” It’s a great question. I think he meant was “What is the curse that comes with being a politician?”

At first blush, I would say knowing how inside politics really works is a curse of sorts. When I hear someone mouthing off about politics, I want to say, “Pal, you don’t know the half of it.”

Yet, the inside political experience is more than never seeing things the same way again. It’s the haunting knowledge that I am compelled to fight for the conservative movement every day for the rest my life - I have been persuaded.

Truthfully, I didn’t know that I would be come an ideologue, a ‘believer’ in the righteousness of the conservative cause, convicted to share the message of personal freedom and free market economics with others. It is life changing indeed, and being convicted, I try to persuade people.

Part of persuasion is telling your audience that they are going to be ‘glad to hear’ your message and that the listener will be ‘proud’ of his or her commitment to the cause. That is why the Ronald Reagan, the father of modern conservatism, became know as the ‘great communicator.’ The dynamic combination of his star power, self-effacing humor and palpable belief that government was not the answer, persuaded his listeners to believe and take pride in the conservative movement.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul continues to prove that he was the Christian ‘great communicator.’ Paul had established the church at Corinth, but in Paul’s absence dynamic, but shallow, group of teachers filled the void. As is typical, these false teachers attacked everything about Paul, even saying he was out of his mind. Beginning in verse 11, Paul is speaking mainly to those Corinthians who continued to follow his leadership, building them up and equipping his friends to defend Paul against the accusation that he was a crazy ideologue.

11 Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13

Thousands of ‘how to’ books on the ‘power of persuasion’ line the shelves of bookstores and pop up on an Internet search, but it doesn’t take an expert to know that sincerity is the key to persuasion. (That’s why Bill Clinton was a powerful persuader – because he was absolutely sincere about whatever he said at the time he said it, maybe not later, but when he said it!)
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Tags: Paul , Bill Clinton, divisions in the church, Persuasion