As I set out into the beautiful mountains of Haiti
yesterday, our task at hand was evangelism, door to door or should I say palm
frawn to palm frawn. So we set
out, three Haitian brothers in Christ and four of us Americans. Our Haitian brothers would walk up to
each and every person we came across, ask them if they knew Jesus, then ask
them if they would like to accept Him into their lives and then lead them in
prayer with their hand raised. I
love where their hearts are!
So many times you hear Christians talking about how x number
of people accepted Christ that day!
Don’t get me wrong, I praise at that, but I praise that they were saved
by Jesus and not by a “salvation prayer.”
It boggles my mind, how can someone accept Jesus in their life when they
don’t even know about Him, or they have only heard two sentences describing His
love? Or have been told that they
are a sinner because they have lied and stolen by a total stranger! Do they really KNOW him or do they just know ABOUT Him?
Do we believe something we have heard about for only one minute? We may be more educated on the topic,
but do we know it intimately? The
only thing that gives me peace about these stories is that “it is by grace you
have been saved.” It is not by
anything we do, but all the work of our great God.
So where am I going with this? Probably the direction you least expect, I’m not bashing
Christians and some of the ways we evangelism, although I don’t always
agree. I am simply going to state
my beliefs and speak life about this topic. Some may not agree, but I wholeheartedly believe this is
biblical and will stand firm in it.
You see, God called all 7 of us into the Haitian mountains
yesterday for a reason, to work through us. We have different theologies and different ways to
evangelize, but we share one thing, a heart for Jesus Christ.
In 1Corinthians13:8 the bible says, “love NEVER fails.”
Powerful! Check this out,
all biblical truth. If God is
love, if He lives inside of His people “…He lives with you and will be in you”,
and is perfect then that means I have a perfect love living inside of me and it
will NEVER fail!
So when I venture into the deep pockets of Haiti and love on
people with the love of Christ, failure is not an option! I can pray for these people, I may
stumble my words, someone else may pray the so-called “prayer of salvation”
with another and some may sit and observe with a joyful smile, but in all of
that there is a purpose. I may not
agree with it all, it may not all be biblical, but we are human, we fall, we
learn day by day and we screw things up.
I believe the quick 1-minute introduction and salvation is
not truth, but what I do believe is Jesus has a purpose. He called us to that mountain for a
reason; I believe He is planting seeds and I believe He is perfect and “that
all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” Some have been taught these ways, some
were saved that way and some just don’t know any different, but thankfully God
is bigger than us and can work through our crap. God is saving the way He wants and I am called to love and
be obedient, that is it….I’m not called to save!
I thank Jesus for calling us to the mountains, I thank Him
for different people, I thank Him for continually revealing truth to me and I
most of all I thank Him for the power of HIS LOVE in me.
