I work at the Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters for the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Division as the Digital Archivist [which sounds fancy, but it really just means I scan pictures all day in the basement, or as I call it "The Foundation"]. Yesterday I had the opportunity of going out and helping sort through the many donations received in the Philly area. Together with others at DHQ and a few volunteers, including a group from Urban Outfitters, things went pretty well and they were all sorted and taken care of relatively quickly!
Part way through all the sorting they brought out some coffee and snacks for a quick break. It was then that a guy I had been working with all day came up to me and handed me this little pamphlet thing. On the front it just said Fortune Teller with a picture of a playing card. As he handed it to me he said "Here I have something for you. Make sure you actually read it, don't just throw it away!"
It shocked me at first. To be honest I thought it was some sort of pamphlet trying to recruit me into some satanic group of fortune tellers and devil worshipers. I admit it was probably an over dramatic reaction about the whole situation on my part, but I gave him an odd look, stuck it in my pocket, and walked away. I didn't really fully read it until I was home that afternoon, but when I did my heart sunk deep inside my chest.
The pamphlet was just simply one of those normal Christian tracts even I had once handed out before. After realizing this I felt an overwhelming disappointment in myself. The disappointment wasn't for the odd look I gave him or even the fact that I kinda just walked away from him without trying to witness myself if indeed it was something satanic, as I first thought. Rather, the disappointment I was feeling was that it wasn't obvious to him that I was a Christian already, that I had already been saved and washed in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb. It didn't show through my words or actions that I love Jesus more than anything. Even in the parking lot of a Divisional Headquarters for the Salvation Army, a church itself, it was not notable. Granted it was only a short period of time that I was with the guy and the majority of it was spent checking expiration dates on cans and boxes, but should he still have some inclination?
It says in John 13:34-35,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
If we are loving others properly the way Jesus instructed us he says "men will know that you are my disciples." It doesn't qualify that by saying if we make subtle hints at it or flat out tell them, they should already be able to tell! It all made me question whether or not I am doing my job as a Christian fully and properly the way it has been laid out in the Bible. I know it is impossible for us to love perfectly the way God does, yet that is exactly how I want to love. I want my love to pour into everyone I meet so that they may come to have a deeper understanding of Jesus' sacrificial love through me. I urge you to love this way as well and let this be your prayer: That your love imitate the love of God in everyway possible so that all men will know you are a disciple of Christ.
Don't forget to subscribe to this blog to receive updates now before I leave and also while I'm out on the field to see what amazing things God is doing in my life.
Also My fundraising efforts are still in full force! Click here to partner with me in this endeavor by donating financially. :]
And if you get the chance there are links on the left side of this page where you can meet both my squad and my team, team #agapetos, which means beloved in Greek. They are all amazing people with hearts on fire for the Lord and I'm so excited to be with them all for 11 months in January! Check out all of their blogs as well!
