An event took place during my senior year of high school that changed by life. I was asked to help some Christians on one of their projects. I was interested in, and still am, in film and drama. Reading, film, stage, and storytelling are among my strongest passions. This group was building a TV studio for a kids show that they were going to produce. Someone in the group knew of my interests, and I was invited to help put the studio together.
I was a bit weary. While I had some church experience, I did not consider myself to be a believer. I had been dropped off at Lutheran conformation classes, and I remember the day my class stood before the church and recited our belief in all that Christ had done. Not only wasn't I really sure who Jesus was or what he had done, I was pretty sure I didn't believe what little I knew. But what was I going to do? I was standing up there in front of everyone. I read my lines.
If this group of Christians knew that I hadn't yet embraced their most cherished beliefs, would they still want me there? Turns out the answer was, "Yes." Turns out I hadn't pulled the wool over their eyes. They knew I wasn't an insider, but they hoped that I might change my mind if I could see the faith up close.
They didn't make me pray with them or go to church with them. They just let me help. As a result I discovered something new. They got tired like everyone else. They got irritable like everyone else. They hit their thumbs with a hammer and then yelled at each other like everyone else. Then they came back, confessed their sin to each other, asked for forgiveness and then received forgiveness like nobody I had met before. Something made their lives together different. Something empowered them to move beyond their own weakness. As I listened to them talk to each other sharing their fears, concerns, and hopes, I discovered that something was a Someone. The experience intrigued me enough to pick up a Bible for the first time and figure out who this Jesus person was.
We need to share the story of Jesus with everyone. We are all to be fishers of men and women, but words are often not enough. God is using us to change the world. At least he is if we are faithful. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27) If our faith does not show itself in ministering to the needs of a fallen world, then we don't yet know Jesus (James 2:18-20). One of the best ways to witness and engage those who don't yet know Jesus is to invite them to help with the work God has called us to.
What? Invite unbelievers into the important work of the gospel? Isn't that inviting trouble?
I'm here today because a small group of Christians believed, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4) If you want to see changed lives, let people get close. Let them belong before they believe.
Now, if you have no service projects or ongoing work to better the world that you can invite people to join you in, that's a different story. You need to take some time to reread the gospels and be reintroduced to the Lord of love. He will change your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment