Interview: Duck Dynasty's Jase Robertson Talks About Evangelizing to a Prank Caller and Being Mistaken for the Geico Caveman in 'Good Call'
CP: What messages do you strive to get out to Christians? Is it being vocal about their faith and not being afraid to share it? And what advice do you share with parents most often when you meet people at events?
Jase: As a favor to me, Tim Tebow spoke at my children's school last night and we talked a lot about that question.
Tim's been persecuted a lot and so has my dad for some things. Tim really inspired me because he was like, "You know what it is: Christians are afraid of persecution and it's almost a subconscious thing. It's just so much more comfortable to believe what you believe and say, 'OK, I got this.' And then just lead a safe life that doesn't have much conflict or moments that are uncomfortable."
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But you read all the texts in the Bible about how blessed you are when you're being persecuted because you're doing something right.
When you get involved in people's lives, just like our lives, it's messy. And a lot of people don't want to look at what's going on. They don't want to look at the reality. That's why there are so many people getting high and all the things that we do.
When you understand that, you realize: I have a purpose here. God made me. He proved that He loves me. He sent Jesus here to die for me. He's resurrected, and I'm going to heaven and I'm part of a forever family.
And now, he's using us, despite our flaws, to make His message known in whatever we do as our platform. I'm a duck hunter and Tebow is a football player. We don't really have a lot in common outside of that. But the power of that is that we're brothers and we love each other because we're doing the same thing, we're just doing it in our different platforms.
My point is: if people realize, you know what, if I'm a farmer, if I'm a barber, if I'm a beautician or I'm digging ditches, or even if I'm an at-home mom raising my kids, I have this blessing of being used by God by making this wonderful news about Jesus known. And sure, there's going to be some persecution, but it's just because this whole process of changing your life; and being unselfish is not pleasant, sometimes it's uncomfortable.
And you've got to change your habits or change your lifestyle; and so when you view persecution as that, just because it's difficult it doesn't mean it's not powerful.
I think once people start doing that and getting out of their comfort zone and start seeing results — which they shouldn't base it on results — but when you do, then you say, 'Oh, OK. Yeah, this is working, this is good. So that's our point.
The reason I say you shouldn't base it on results is because it's our job to share Jesus and to share the message, and the rest is up to them. That keeps you from being judgmental or mean spirited. We're simply presenting what we think is a more meaningful life and a chance to receive life eternally and promoting God's grace, and it's up to them however they want to respond.
I'm mindful of Jeremiah, because he preached about 40 years and he didn't have many responses, and he wrote in chapter 20: "If I say that I won't speak about Him or mention Him anymore," he said, "His Word is in me like a fire and I'm leery of holding it in, and indeed I cannot." And then two verses later, he says, "The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior, and my persecutors will stumble and fall."
And I think what he had realized is: who he was with was way more powerful than the response he was getting. And you find that joy in being used by God, and you allow people to respond at their own level and their own pace.
CP: In each chapter of your book you start off with a scripture. Do you have a favorite scripture or one that you share with people most often?
Jase: I've been asked that a lot, and I've never answered it this way, but these are my real thoughts: I realized at an early age that the Bible is written through history and God used inspired men to write this, and there are a lot of things in there that are guidelines; but it's actually a revealing of Jesus Christ.
Genesis to Malachi says that Jesus is coming to earth — that's the point of it. And in Matthew through John, the point is what He did while He was on the earth; and Revelation basically says this same Jesus is coming back.
I look at verses in that light. In that I keep the big picture that it's often the relationship through the book. I compare that to when my wife writes me a love letter. It's not just the letter by itself that means much as a sheet of paper, it means much because it's a reflection of who wrote it.
In saying that, my favorite verse is Hebrews 13:8, which says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Because no matter what happens in your life and no matter what hand you're dealt, there's something really good — there's a person who's Holy, righteous, blameless, never made a mistake, who's flawless and who's always there. To me that brings me a lot of comfort, because I know that whatever I'm going through, Jesus' message is the same.
There's forgiveness, there's new beginnings through the cross, there's hope in the resurrection, and the idea of living forever is something that's real because we serve and follow a Savior who's eternal. He was resurrected and He's still alive.
Reading the Bible that way keeps you from taking a verse out of context and forming some belief system on it. I just filter it through that it reveals the Savior and that relationship is real.
A lot of people say, "I don't know when the last time was that I studied my Bible."
But to me, if you're passionate about Jesus being your Lord, and this is His love letter to you, it's a way for you to read and study in showing your affection. That way it doesn't feel like, "Oh, it's something I have to do;" or "I need to put my time in." That's really how I feel. I study the Bible for hours and hours, but I don't feel like I'm sitting here exactly learning, I'm enjoying the relationship that I'm sharing with God.
