Sunday, March 29, 2015, 10:16 p.m.
I am an introvert by nature. I don't strike up conversations
with strangers easily. I admit that frequently I don't even pay much attention
to who is waiting on me in a restaurant or who is checking me out at a grocery
store. I have to really work at starting conversations with people. So, I am
working on that. And, I am doing better, but I am still a work in progress. It
is so much easier for me to write than it is for me to talk with people.
So, I got thinking about Jesus. I am supposed to be Jesus to
people, i.e. he, by his Spirit, lives within me, and I am to be his witness and
his servant, and I am to love people with the love of Jesus. So, I started
thinking about what that should look like. I mean, if I were Jesus, which
obviously I am not, what would I do? If he was eating in a restaurant, and
someone waited on his table, what would he say to the server? If someone
carried his groceries out to the car for him, what words would he speak to this
person in a minute or less? For those of you who know me, I am not very
concise. So, it is hard for me to make conversations with people in such
limited time. I do better with the hairdresser, because I have at least 30
minutes. So, then I have time to develop the conversation.
Anyway, so I was asking Jesus lately, when I am out in
public, or when I am with other people, to help me to be Jesus to people. Most
of the people I see in public are working, so I cannot get into in-depth
conversations with them. But I can say something. I can plant a seed, at least.
I went to a new hairdresser the other day. We talked about
several things. I learned we had some shared experiences. We got talking about
church, and then I asked her if she knew Jesus. She said she did. Here in
America, though, sometimes people say they believe in Jesus if they grew up in
a church. I talked with her about who the church is, i.e. the body of Christ
and not a building or an organization. I told her about a Bible study we used
to have in our home for college students. I know we talked about Jesus and his
church, his body. I believe she is seeking, and that she would like to be in a
fellowship with other believers.
The next day my husband and I stopped at TCBY for a frozen
yogurt. No one was in the store but us and the clerk. So, I prayed and asked
Jesus to give me the words to say to her. I believe he said to ask her if she
knew Jesus. I started by asking her if she went to church anywhere, and then I
asked her if she knew Jesus. She also answered, “Yes,” that she knew Jesus. So,
then I talked with her about what that meant to believe in Jesus. I shared part
of Luke 9:23-25 with her:
And
he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a
man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Both the hairdresser and this girl seemed turned off to
institutional religion. They both mentioned how they had visited several
churches in the area, but they were not happy with what they found. It wasn’t “church”
to them. I told this girl, too, that we used to have a Bible study in our home.
I felt led to give her my phone number. I told her if she would be interested
in meeting for Bible study to give me a call. She thanked me. Just then other
customers came into the store. So, we left and let her work.
The next day we went to the grocery store. My husband was
with me again. A young lady took our groceries out to the car for us. We
chatted with her a little. I asked her if she went to church anywhere. She said
she works on Sunday mornings. I told her we don’t have to meet with the church
on Sunday morning or at a building called a “church,” but we can meet for a
Bible study in a home any day. So, I asked her if she believed in Jesus. She
said she did. She said she thinks if she just prays that is all she needs. I
shared with her that believing in Jesus means following him in obedience and
doing what he says. I also told her that we used to have a Bible study in our
home for college students. She told me if we decide to start another one to let
her know. She is also a college student.
So, in three days I met three different women who all say
they know Jesus but they are not presently in fellowship with the body of
Christ, and at least two of them expressed dissatisfaction with institutional
religion as their reasons for not being in fellowship with other believers. I
empathize with them. My heart hungers to meet, in person, with other believers
for Bible study, prayer, fellowship and the breaking of bread, apart from
institutional religion which is run by humans and has turned the church into a
marketplace.
As I just read back over the passage in Luke, I realized
that by me being willing “to be Jesus” to the people I meet out in the world
that I am denying myself, which by nature (the flesh) does not easily make
conversations with people I don’t know. So, God is working on me in this area.
What I don’t do naturally, the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish through me if
I am a willing servant to obey him and to do what he says in being Jesus to the
world around me. So, pray for me that I will have the sensitivity of the Holy
Spirit to people I meet out in public, and that I will not be content with
remaining introverted, but that I will pray for the Spirit’s empowerment to
give me the words to say, not just in writing, but verbally to strangers, too.
Willing / An
Original Work / August 17, 2011
I am willing to obey You;
Have Your Spirit live within me;
Know Your power; be Your witness
To a world who needs You greatly.
Love within me spread to all men,
So that they might come to know Him;
Know His power; His forgiveness;
Be transformed into His likeness.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Change our hearts within this hour.
May we be like Jesus always;
Be a light that shines in darkness.
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