The Kiss

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  “Ryabovitch pulled the bed-clothes over his head, curled himself up in bed, and tried to gather together the floating images in his mind and to combine them into one whole. But nothing came of it. He soon fell asleep, and his last thought was that someone had caressed him and made him happy—that something extraordinary, foolish, but joyful and delightful, had come into his life. The thought did not leave him even in his sleep. When he woke up the sensations of oil on his neck and the chill of peppermint about his lips had gone, but joy flooded his heart just as the day before.” The Kiss By Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

Personal (lesson in) evangelism

Yesterday evening I had an incredible desire to pray about evangelism, so I began, "Lord, because you have given me so many people to talk to . . ." and I had to stop. Then (because we are a home-schooling family), I had a parent-teacher conference (read: "I said to myself") that went something like this:

"Didn't you mean to pray, 'Lord, please give me someone to share the gospel with?'"

"No," I said to myself, "I meant what I said. God has put so many people across my path that I have not shared the gospel with, I should pray for boldness and clarity to speak."

"But that is so profound," I answered myself in amazement. "Who ever heard of praying that way?"

God apparently has. I was caused to remember that obedience to the Great Commission is about "Going" to those who are already there and either do not know there is a Jesus who has made salvation possible, or do not know they need to repent and confess their sin and be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

If I prayed, "Give me someone to share the gospel with," I am assuming one of two things: either there are so many people around me who are truly converted that I cannot find a lost person with whom to speak; or, I am failing to believe God has sent me with His authority to speak. I settled on the fact that God has indeed already given me people to talk with--I just had to obey Him and go do it. And Satan was ready to thwart the gospel.

We got to the store and I got out with my tracts and my wife had already started talking to this guy who was just sitting in his car a couple of spaces over. I got around the car, she dismissed herself and went it, and I approached the man with a tract. I only got to speak with him a couple of minutes for his wife came out and they had to leave, but he took another tract and he smiled alot, then left.

I kept passing out tracts in the store until an incident occurred (for the sake of those involved, I will spare the details) that caused us to cut our shopping trip short for an emergency run back home. I was boiling hot, getting quite angry because I felt I was not able to have an effective ministry. God said, "really?" I forgot it was His work, not mine I was doing.

We were able to return to our shopping and visited another store (as the first was now closed) and I continued passing out tracts. I will just say I love going to the grocery store because the Security guard there knows that if I do my job, his job will be easier . . . think about it.

Evangelism is obedient and easy. Just get out and do it.

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