But there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This one came to Him by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:1-6
Dear saints, let us pray that the saints would learn to know the different kinds of people, just as fishermen know the categories of fish, so that they will know what kind of “bait” they need to attract people to Christ (John 3:1-6; 4:5-7, 9-10, 14-15).
To properly classify people, we must have the right technique. We would not be so foolish as to ask someone what kind of person he is. Rather, we can classify people by contacting them in a general way through conversation. We should be general and not make a display to them that we are religious, spiritual, or heavenly. People do not like to talk to angels or religious persons; this scares them. Rather, we must talk to people in a general, human way. Then by our general talk we must learn to realize what kind of person each one is.
In the past I have given more than twenty classifications of people, but here it is sufficient to give only five main categories. The first is the so-called atheists, those who do not believe that there is a God in the universe. It is easy to find out if a person is an atheist. The second category consists of people who are sinful and living in sins. Those in this category also are easy to know. The third classification is people who sense the vanity of this life. They always have the sense that life is vain, a vanity of vanities. The fourth classification is moral people, people who always pay attention to morality. The last classification includes professing Christians. If we know these classifications, it is easy to realize what category a person belongs to. Then we will know how to deal with him. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1964, vol. 4, “Serving in the Meetings and in the Gospel,” ch. 4, p. 106)
More details via Beseeching.org, day 362.
