Sow what!

"I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh...Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." (Romans 9:1-3, 10:1)

This passage showed up several times in several ways last week for me. Isn't it incredible how God knows how hard-headed and deaf-eared we can be that He shows us things over and over until we listen? I knew God was trying to get my attention.

Evangelism. This word evokes so many reactions. What's yours? For me, I think "Ouch!" This is an area I struggle in. Some people are faith-sharing machines it seems...not me. It would be easy to say I don't have the "spiritual gift" of evangelism, but this is mostly a cop-out for disobedience. Jesus told us to make disciples, and that will probably be difficult if we're not sharing our faith.

I'm kind of an "all or nothing" type person. If I can't do something right, I don't want to do it at all. This fleshes itself out in areas like home improvement projects. When we lived in Colorado, Amy wanted to do things to our townhome like paint or put tile down in the kitchen. Not ever having done this, I was petrified to mess it up. I'm a perfectionist, and if I put one tile down crooked, I would have to see it every day, and that's not a chance I was willing to take. I had a chance to do some tiling with a friend at his house who knew what he was doing, and after months of "encouragement", Amy finally convinced me that we could do it. I consented, and we bought the tile and supplies. It turned out to not be as difficult as I thought, and now I look back on it and think, "Sure, I'd do it again. It's not that hard."

I think this mentality permeates my faith-sharing as well. If I can't share all of the gospel in one sitting, I may never get to see that person again, so I'm hesitant to even start a conversation. I'm realizing that it's not about an all-or-nothing deal. God puts us in positions with friends, family, acquaintances, and perfect strangers and just wants us to share whatever we can in the time we have with them. This is a relief for me. I am not always responsible to cultivate, plant, water, weed, and harvest. I'm just responsible to be available to do the stage of where the person is at that day on their journey to saving faith. One person may need some cultivating; another may need some watering; and still another may be ready for harvest.

Now, back to the scripture above. I know that in order for me to be sensitive to the moments God gives me, I need to have a desire to see people put their faith in Jesus. I'm praying for this desire because it's not natural. God tells us that he will supply all our needs according to his glorious riches...maybe he's not just talking about our financial needs. I need to hurt for the lost people around me, whether I know them well or not. Paul was at the point where he was willing to trade places and give up eternity w/ Jesus just to see his fellow Israelites come to faith in Christ. Wow! I'm not there yet.

Like Amy and the tile, I'm also asking God to keep putting people in my life to "encourage" me to be sharing my faith. I'm also asking Him for a mentor in this area...someone I can watch in action and work alongside in the faith.

Tell the world that Jesus lives. Tell the world that. Tell the world that.
Tell the world that He died for them. Tell the world that He lives again.

We'll tell, we'll tell, we'll tell the world about You.
We'll tell, we'll tell, we'll tell the world about You.