“Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea, Take the news of his glory to the lost,
News of his wonders to one and all!” Psalm 96:3 (The Message)
Are you burdened for family members who don’t have a relationship with Christ like you do? What about a friend, neighbor, co-worker? Do you find it difficult to share your faith with someone close to you or have you tried and walls seem to get built higher instead of torn down?
I used to believe God gave the gift of evangelizing (you know, the fancy word for sharing from our hearts about our relationship with God with others) to some but not others and therefore, if we didn’t have the gift, we were off the hook. But then I started reading the Bible more closely and realized that “evangelizing” is a command He gives to everyone who is His child. His main purpose for humankind is to share His love and the gospel message (how someone can gain eternal life in Heaven too) with everyone. He didn’t say only Johnny and Cindy had to evangelize and Brad and Mary could use their gift of hospitality instead. No, every single one of us is invited to share the gospel message with those who will listen.
Lately I’ve been thinking about that a lot. There are certain people that I pray for regularly because I know they don’t know God personally and I’m not sure if they really want to. It’s not my place to determine their choice; I’m just supposed to be obedient. I also know that God doesn’t call us to beat people over the head with His message either. He’s a gentleman in every sense of the word and therefore, if He’s not going to force us into a relationship with Him, He doesn’t want us manhandling others into His kingdom either. So what do we do when we have people we love who don’t seem to listen? I pray God will send someone into their life whom they will listen to. I don’t care if it’s me who is able to have that heart-to-heart talk with them and lead them to Christ or if it’s someone else. I just want the people I love to be in Heaven with me for all eternity and sometimes I’m not the right person for the job.
That got me thinking. If I’m praying for someone to come into the lives of those I love, maybe other Christ followers are praying that exact same prayer about those they love. And if that’s true, then maybe God wants to use me in someone else’s life to share about how much God loves him or her in the same way I pray that God will use another person in the lives of my loved ones.
Have you considered that you might be the one God is wanting to use in the life of someone else? To reach someone’s loved one who can’t reach them himself? I wouldn’t want the person I’m praying to touch those I love with God’s love to ignore His prompt. And I don’t want to ignore the prompt to be that to someone else either.
Maybe God is waiting to use you and your invitation to share His love with someone you least expect it. Maybe He is wanting you to be willing to step out with that message while He invites someone else to do the same for those you love but can’t seem to reach. Maybe…
© Cheri Swalwell 2017