God first! People second! Period.

To continue yesterday's thought, people are more important than systems. No matter how clever your theology is, it's only a flawed model. It is not more important than the person you club with it. A million years from now, that person will be an overwhelming glory or horror. Your theology will be a gladly forgotten embarrassment by then, crushed to oblivion by the sight of the One it so feebly and inaccurately describes.

That doesn't mean theology is unimportant. It just means that even the most detailed and accurate map is not the area mapped. The best photo is no substitute for the beloved. Surely we should insist on the best until faith becomes sight, but we must also remember that the goal is not to introduce someone to your sketch or photo, but to the One pictured.

God is personal, and he created us as personal beings. One of the most common blasphemies is reverse idolatry: to treat one made in God's image as a thing, a case, an abstract entity. If your approach to witnessing is system-oriented, you are treating a person as a thing, and you must stop!

Instead, commit yourself to God and ask him to show you what to say and do. Then obey him. No clever arguments or gimmicks--just the power of God. "But what if he asks about Science and Scripture, or the da Vinci Code, or how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"

We'll look at that tomorrow. But for now, God first! People second!