10/4/14 Fernando about 50
I
reached out to a fellow shopper at Home Depot named Fernando by using a
million-dollar Gospel Tract as a conversation starter. “Oh, I have one already,
I got it in Mexico” he told me, taking out an old million-peso version from his
wallet and unfolding it. “I’m a
Christian too” he added. Now, I’ve heard
many too people claim to be Christians who really trust in their own goodness,
so I asked “How can you know you will go to heaven?” “Well, because Jesus paid for my sins when he
was crucified” he answered without hesitating.
“You don’t know how seldom I hear that” I told him. “Most people say they will go to heaven
because they believe they are good enough.
But if we could be good enough to go to heaven, we wouldn’t need Jesus”. I asked Fernando about his church involvement
and found out he, too, regularly shares the Gospel, both on the streets of Chicago
and in Mexico, along with other members of his church. We had a wonderful time
of fellowship and prayer there at Home Depot.
What I found interesting about this conversation was that it was typical
of the small percentage of people I talk to who say they put their faith in Jesus
rather than in their goodness as their hope for salvation. Those who do are usually people who actively
share the gospel themselves, like Fernando.
I understand this doesn’t necessarily mean that other people aren’t
believers – but it is easy to get distracted from our true faith in Jesus by
the seductive and attractive belief that we have somehow earned our
salvation. Our selfish pride wants us to
believe that, and it is the default belief that the world keeps dragging us
into. But those who regularly share
their faith in Jesus are constantly reminded by the mistaken faith of others in
their own good works or their own personal goodness. And we all need that reminder!
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