7/30/13 James about 45
A
strange thing happened at the grocery store late last night…Church! After doing my shopping I decided to reach
out with the gospel to a few people before checking out. It was late and I was tired after a long day
working on a construction project, but then I ran into James, a fellow
believer, who was glad to hear what I was doing. We spent some time in fellowship, catching up
on how God has been working in our lives and what we have been learning,
sharing our concerns and joining together in prayer right there in aisle
15! And the cool thing is, despite our
very different backgrounds and the fact that he is African American and I am
European American, despite our different occupations and churches, and despite
the fact that we had never met before last night – we had everything in common
in Christ! My goal of initiating at
least one gospel conversation with a new person daily has taught me a couple
important things; 1.) How many different avenues their imagination takes people
when their view of themselves, God and eternity is not based on biblical truth;
and 2.) How few genuine believers like James are out there. Unless the Spirit is disproportionately
leading me to talk to unbelievers (those who actively reject the things of God)
and false believers (people who think themselves saved but usually only
trusting in their own goodness or their own unbiblical ideas about God) people
like James are few and far between.
After just a few minutes of talking to him I could easily tell we had so
much in common - biblical truth, grace
and forgiveness in Jesus, the Holy Spirit living in new hearts that come to
those who are born again, the same Heavenly Father who has adopted us as His
children – that it felt like we had known each other for years. After all, we are family! “The Spirit you received brought about your
adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself
testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8)
No comments:
Post a Comment