Mark Cahill, in his book, One thing you can't do in Heaven, talks about shifting our mindset regarding Christian disciplines. It's not that we "got to" go to church. We "get to" go to church. Same thing with reading our bible, praying, and even sharing our faith. Today, I finally "get it." I finally understand that "get to" feeling that comes from simply doing it over and over again.
What an amazing honor and privilege it is to have the words of eternal life, and to be able to share that message of hope and life and love in Jesus Christ with the world around us. The world has a debilitating disease, and we have the cure! We get to give it away for free! What an amazing privilege. Once you strip away all the devil's excuses, and share your faith regularly despite your fears, I bet you, too, will find that you want to share this precious gospel more and more and more. I'm hungry for more after today!
One good thing about returning to the same fishing hole every day (in my case, the University of Louisiana campus), is that you start to learn some things. I'm learning that it's better to go in late afternoon, because people seem to have more time to talk then. Earlier in the day, people are rushing to class and a witnessing encounter requires track shoes. I'm also learning some surprising places on campus that people hang out, alone. I haven't approached any groups yet. That's the next hurdle.
Anyway, had a very pleasant conversation with Shawn today on campus. He was eager to take the $20.00 challenge, but could only name 4 of the 10 commandments. I went through the law and the gospel with him. He was eager to hear and very receptive. I wasn't sure he truly understood what it meant to be "born again," so I explained more about trusting in Jesus instead of trusting in your own efforts. I explained that when you do, Jesus gives you a new heart with new desires to please Him, and the bible calls it being "born again." I pleaded with him about the urgency of the matter, and asked him to get right with God tonight. I left him with an "Are you good enough to go to Heaven?" tract, because I wasn't sure he truly understood the essentials.
I asked him if anyone had ever talked to him about this stuff before. He said, "Yes, but not in such a way that made it simple and easy." I told him that the gospel is simple to understand, but it's far from easy. It requires that you repent and surrender your life to Jesus Christ. But I told him that everything else pales in comparison to the joy you'll find when you give your life to Him. He thanked me for our conversation. Can you imagine being thanked for witnessing to someone? We're firefighters, and this world is perishing in the burning building. It shouldn't surprise me that people thank me. But 3 out of 6 have as I continue fishing on the UL campus. Somehow, though, I think God's taking it easy on me and that the big guns are yet to come.
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