Everyone has a standard by which they gauge right and wrong. Their standard may be as simple as their own opinion, or it could be popular opinion, their parents or some named ideology, but everyone has a standard.

When someone tells you not to “impose your religion” on them, they are judging by their standard that it is wrong for you to try to influence their thinking with your own.

Imagine, however, the hypocrisy of the statement: They attempt to convince you that it is wrong to impose your will, by imposing their will on you.

It was Jesus who taught us to preach His gospel to the whole world. Never be ashamed at any honest attempt to influence someone with the message of Jesus. Is it ever wrong to “impose” the truth on another’s thinking?

Jesus’ apostle Paul wrote that he was not ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because the gospel is the only thing with the power to save us from being punished for our sin.

I am convinced that everyone who ends up in torment like the man in Luke 16, will regret not allowing someone to “impose” the gospel on them. He begged Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his five brothers. I find it interesting that Abraham said that if his brothers would not listen to Moses and the prophets, that they would not believe even if someone rose from the dead.

Abraham was right. We can know he was right, because someone did rise from the dead, and folks still won’t believe. That is how much they love their own standards. So many have fashioned their standard so as to approve of their behavior and condemn any attempt to change their minds.

But you believed. I believed. We changed, and were changed. There are others who would also believe if they heard. How will they hear if not by you and me?

If Jesus is our standard, we will tell them.