The busy streets, the tonal language, the very, very quiet bus rides, the crammed subway cars, the smell of chow mein cooking in every restaurant, innocent stares from the Chinese natives, and the best food I’ve ever eaten can be what I use to describe China so far.
I’m not able to talk too much about what ministry looks like this month (our host has asked us to keep things on the DL), but I can tell you it’s definitely not what I expected it to be.
Our first day, our host sat us all down as she was explaining the village, restaurants, and places to see. She said to us that we are not allowed to talk to the locals about our faith. And that hit me really hard. Like, what? Isn’t that why I’m here? To tell others about Jesus and share the Gospel? I was so thrown. I mean, I had heard that China persecuted Christians, but I didn’t expect for my voice to be taken from me. And coming from somebody who is loud and outspoken, it’s something that’s been really hard for me to handle.
So I prayed. I asked God how can I share the Gospel without speaking? How will people know that I have something different without me even mentioning Jesus?
Then God brought me to Matthew 5:14.
“You are the light of the world, a city that cannot be hidden..”
This is going to sound so elementary, but think about a night light. You plug it in and use it at night so that you can see when it’s dark. Without the night light, you could knock over some things, stub your toe, trip and fall, or break something. But with the light, you can navigate through the house easier because you are able to see.
Now think of that exact same example, but spiritually. Without the light of the world (the body of Christ), people run into some things that could knock them down, trip them up, and fall into the traps that the enemy has set up for them.
I am the light of the world. My squad is the light of the world. We as believers are the light of the world. Just by being who God created us to be shows others that we are different. People should be able to look at us and tell that we are different, and not just because we’re Americans, but because we embody who Christ is.
My prayer this month is that I portray Christ without words. I pray that the woman who cooks our dinner every night would recognize that there is something different about us and would seek to find truth. I pray that the man at the fruit stand would become curious about who we are and what we have, and that curiosity would lead to a desire to know Jesus. I pray that every person we come in contact with would see the light of Jesus shining through us.
#AlexsAsianInvasion
