So, this trip so far has been a lot of what I didn’t
expect(even with not having any expectations), and it hasn’t challenged me to
think about and evaluate about different things. I have never been one who
preaches fire and brimstone to anyone, and I am not a fan of that, but I was
challenged to think about how we should present the Gospel to people, mainly
because we have been doing a ton of door to door evangelism these first couple
months.
So what do I think about it? Well I do know that when fire
and brimstone have been presented to someone, it has never set well within me,
and I always felt there should be a better way to do it. So I really began
praying about it, and asking God to show me, and just as God does, He used what
I was reading in His word to show me and teach me.
I was reading the gospel of John yesterday(which is quickly
becoming my favorite) and as I read over a basic verse that everyone has
memorized, things clicked like that never have before. In John 3:17, John says
this: “For God did not send His Son into the world that he might condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” So we should not condemn
them. But why not? Well the next verse had the answer: “…anyone who does not
believe is ALREADY condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the
One and Only Son of God.”
So what John was saying here was that people who don’t know
Christ already know they are condemned. They might not act like it, but they
know deep down in their soul they need a Savior.
So how do we reach people? I think John shows us in the next
chapter when he uses a story to get his point across. The next chapter is the
woman at the well, and Jesus doesn’t condemn her for her ways, or make it known
that she is on her way to hell, but shows her love and that there is something
More and He wants her to have that. It is hopeful and filled with love, not
with condemnation.
Also, in Colossians and Deuteronomy, it says that the Word of God dwells in
us. The word used to describe “God’s Word” is the same word used in Genesis
when God spoke the world in to existence. The Word that dwells in us is for
creating beautiful thing, creating hope, used in a beautiful way of hope and
love. It’s the exact opposite than some use to protest military family funerals,
and condemning homosexuals to hell, and that God hates them. That word is not
God’s, and that is not His way. It is filled with hope and love. We freely receive
love and hope from Christ everyday, so we should be free to give it to others.
