Written October 26th, 2011
“Jesus has high value.” That’s what she said when asked what importance Jesus had in her life.
Her name I never caught. She was tall, young. Her head was wrapped with a scarf, her legs were completely covered with pants, her shirt was long. I honestly thought she was a Muslim when I met her but then she took her scarf off when she came inside. This home was not hers; she was a friend of the daughter. Her first words to me through a translator was, “I love her”. I smiled, laughed a little. How could she love when she didn’t even know me?
This house was the last during our door to door evangelism day. It was lunch time, hot and we had to wait for the mom of the house to arrive. It was only her daughter and friends at home. To ease tension and language barrier our translator asked them what she thought of Jesus. Shortly after hearing their response our contact was calling us to tell us to come back as they were all waiting on us to return. My team leader wanted to just pray and leave but right before I spoke up.
Now let me first say, I don’t like door to door. It’s difficult for me. Awkward. Something we don’t do in America. I’m not good at quoting scripture and I don’t feel like I get “words” or visions from God. So, its difficult for me.
However, this day was something different. I read Matthew 10: 32-33 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” Then, Matthew 10: 37-39 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Then I was led to read Matthew 7: 21 which reads “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Finally, I read Matthew 6: 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
I’m not sure what exactly happened next but I know it was God speaking for I didn’t even know where those verses were to begin with nor what to say after. “You say you place High Value on Jesus, do you really? Does your life reflect that value? Do you acknowledge him, stand up for what is right according to God’s word or do you allow yourself to follow the crowd, to fit in? Have you given up your dreams to follow what God wants you to do? Are you willing to do that because the reward in heaven is greater than any house, car, retirement plan, food, or lifestyle you can buy here on earth? You might say you know Jesus or you know God but do you really? Do you have a relationship with him or just know about him? Are you living for the world or for God? If you place a High Value on Jesus like you say you do, are you living like him?”
We stayed an hour past time. It didn’t matter to me lunch was late. I knew those girls needed to hear what I said, more like what God had to say. I invited them to come to church that night, they didn’t show. The mother of the house did. Now, I can only pray that the seed that was planted is watered, fertilized and grows. That’s what I was called to do. Plant seeds. Make disciples. God does the rest.
