Today is Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021; Karen's Korner #4387

A friend recently mailed me the monthly newsletter from KJYL radio, our local Christians radio station, with the note "something for Karen's readers?"

I like it when readers have good ideas of what I could share. So here it is:

"There is a mousetrap in the corner of my office that...even though it is 'set'....has little chance of success.

"In fact, it would take a mouse with a brain smaller than a mouse accidentally walking across the little pressure plate to risk any serious harm.

"To reassure the squeamish, our studio does not have serious mouse problems. However, with our studio building surrounded by open acreage, we will inevitably see a few mice when the weather turns cold in the fall. Our usual response is to set a few traps, catch the culprits, and it is 'case closed' for another year.

"It was during one of those seasons that I set the mousetrap in my office, properly baited and set for destruction. A week or so later, I noticed that the bait had been stripped by some nimble (or is it reckless?) mouse. I never bothered to rebait the trap. Nor have I removed the trap from its corner...which, as every woman knows.....is a total guy thing.

"And so the mousetrap sits in the corner with only the slimmest of changes of actually accomplishing its created purpose.

"As the mousetrap caught my eye the other day, I started thinking of it as a metaphor of our efforts of capturing souls for the Kingdom of God. As believers, our spiritual life has been 'set' with the tension and holy fear of the knowledge of the eternal destination of a soul who does not received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Even so, most of us remain 'bait less' when it comes to evangelism. Or, even worse, we 'bait' our witness with all manner of kitschy human gewgaws that only repel those we are seeking to attract and win to Christ.

"What does a property baited witness look like? While I won't be so foolish as to dictate a formula, I do know that it needs to be designed by the Holy Spirit and rich with the aroma of honesty, life and love."
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My friend concluded her note with these words "I am mulling the thought of being a 'baited Christian'.

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