breaking camp

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  

–Matthew 28:19

My beautiful mother-in-law has the gift of evangelism. Here is an example. Quite a few years ago now, she & I were standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, when she noticed that the clerk seemed to be… well sad. To my surprise, my mother-in-law looked her right in the face & asked, “Oh sweetie… are you OK?”  The clerk’s eyes filled with tears & she shook her head. My mother-in-law then asked if she could pray with her. As I stood in awe & truthfully, fought back the urge to hide behind the potato chip display, my sweet mother-in-law reached over the conveyer belt & laid her hand on the clerks arm & began to pray. Out loud. I reluctantly bowed my head & listened. That woman… my husband’s mama… I have no words for how beautiful she is. 

My mama-in-love fishing for men? or maybe just fishing...

 

I am not an evangelist… people scare the crap out of me. As an introvert, I struggle to make small talk with acquaintances, let alone pray with someone I don’t know in the grocery store. For the longest time, I thought this made me exempt from sharing the gospel of Jesus. I thought instead I could leave that up to the outgoing people like my husband or his mom or my son Josh or missionaries to Africa or ___________--fill in the appropriate outgoing, gregarious person. I thought that I could best influence people for the gospel by praying for those on the front line or whatever. I mean, I know with my head & sometimes proclaim with my mouth that we are all missionaries but evangelism? Really? Why would God ask me to do something that is uncomfortable or scary right? Yeah. I see this faulty thinking. You see this faulty thinking. But until recently I’ve not been willing to acknowledge that it is indeed… faulty thinking. 

Part of camping out on the message of Easter (see earlier blog article), has been life changing in ways I never expected. I’ve begun to see how God’s message, while powerful & life altering must be proclaimed before it can accepted. It must be accepted before it can transform. While God doesn’t need us to draw people to Himself…. His message is alive & moving… & He longs for us to join with Him in sharing His message of love to the world. 

Yes I know. Sharing with “The Whole Wide World” is a scary kind of thought… not to mention completely overwhelming & unrealistic. But what if we looked at it from a different perspective? What if we stopped thinking about the world as big picture & instead looked at those who are within arm’s reach. You know the ones… the neighbor who you chat with over the fence, the coworker in the cubicle next to you, the parent you sit next to on the PTA or thru hours of sports practices, the stylist who cuts your hair or sometimes, God forbid, the clerk who checks out your groceries. The Gospel is after all not just a truth to proclaim with our lips but a Gospel life lived out with purpose.  

As I’ve been mulling all of this over in my brain the past few weeks, I can’t help but wonder if I’m not alone in this kind of  over thinking our calling as believers. So I’m throwing it out there today… STOP! 

Please I beg of you. STOP with the over thinking.

Let us not compare ourselves with those who have been called to full time ministry, overseas or here stateside. Let us not be worried about what God has gifted us or not gifted us with. Instead, let us be committed to share our lives with those around us. Unselfishly & without fear. This is the Gospel we are called to people. The transforming power of the Gospel. 

“In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. 

In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. 
But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. 
A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. 

Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." 

The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. 

It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others." 

–C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves