My Christian stigma and embarrassment:
I haven't personally lead one person to faith in Jesus Christ.
Its been a major frustration of mine because I've literally shared the gospel with over 100 people (possibly hundreds…I don't keep a count). Most of these people were one on one, face to face encounters.
Questions arise: Am I doing this right? Am I saying the right thing? Am I missing something? What in the world am I even doing? Am I wasting my time?
I've asked God all of those questions + many more, many times.
While in college I would go around asking people if they wanted to participate in a "spiritual survey". I started out asking about the most important things in their life. Then, moved to their spiritual/religious beliefs and ended with questions about Jesus' death and resurrection. If the person didn't know the latter I would share it with them. Simple enough. No one ever accepted Christ while I did this.
After college until present, I've shared with numerous people on the streets, malls, beaches, and mountains. Rich, poor, homeless, drug users, prostitutes, skaters, gangsters, punkers, hip hoppers, rockers, Rastafarians, Mormons, Scientologists, Jews, Muslims, Jehovah's witnesses, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Atheists, Agnostics, white, black, brown, bearded, non bearded, tall, short, big, small, teenagers, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s! I don't discriminate. None of them accepted Christ while I shared with them.
Time to call it quits? Honestly, I felt like giving up many times. I still do at times, but…
Just because I don't physically see or hear people I share with accept Jesus on the spot doesn't mean they didn't after I left, that night, the next day, a week later, a month later, a year later, a decade later. Jesus said in Luke 14:25-33 that one should count the cost of being a disciple before making a resolution. Becoming a Christian isn't a wishy washy choice made in some sort of emotional state – It's a life long commitment. I can attest to that in my own conversion and life, so I don't pressure someone into a decision. I'm not a sales closer for human souls! The whole process is supernatural and up to God (read Luke 10:22 for example), so I let the Spirit do the work.
I used to expect to till the soil, plant the seed, water the seed, watch it grow, and bear fruit all within a 10-15 minute conversation with someone! I have since learned that it doesn't work that way!
Maybe I'm the 1st person in a line of 50 that needs to speak to a particular person before they accept Christ. Maybe I'm just there to till the soil that is very hard and compacted. Maybe I'm there to sow a seed. Maybe I'm there to water a previously sown seed. Maybe I'm there to reap the harvest (well, not yet at least but there is hope!).
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9
I have no idea what has come from the tilling, planting, and watering I've done over the years, but I'm confident that when all is said and done it'll all be revealed. In the end we'll all see the true harvest! I'm sure it'll blow us all away how each interaction we've had weaved a web so large and beautiful that we'll all just marvel at God's great gracious genius!
Soooooo…
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up – Galatians 6:9
I don't want to grow weary of doing good and give up. I want to keep sharing. I want to meet many more people, gain many more stories, and by the grace of God I will in 11 different countries! While I'm pretty sure I won't be able to have free flowing conversations in with the natives in these countries I hope to find some way to spread the good news about Jesus to them. It must be told and I'm willing to tell it by any means possible.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" – Romans 10:14-15
