Jesus used to walk around town.
It was about 2000 years ago and half a world away from my town, but He really did rub shoulders with regular people. He hung out with them, had meals with them, and did a little traveling with some friends.
Last week I was involved in a conversation about sharing the gospel.
The spark was a comment made by a guy who said he always saw the same faces at church.
Why weren’t there any new faces?
Where were all the new believers?
You know like the book of Acts thing—“and the Lord added to their numbers day by day those that were being saved”.
I’ve been thinking about it all week.
Why don’t we see new faces at church?
Then I though to myself, when was the last time I really reached out to someone the way Jesus did?
What was it like to be around Jesus, to hang out with Him?
What was He like?
If anyone had the right to act Holier-than-Thou it was Jesus, but I can’t find a place in the Gospels where He did.
And when others did, He called ’em on it.
He kinda got in their faces and said, ‘Got anybody in the group without sins of their own? That guy or gal should throw the first stone.’
Jesus took people just as He found them.
When He met woman at a well He invited her to give Him a drink. She was not a Jew. She was not an upright citizen. She was a flawed woman with a sketchy past currently living in a non-approved relationship.
Before He judged he, criticized her, or tried to convince her to clean-up her act, Jesus offered her the free gift of eternal life—living water that would quench the thirst for God, a thirst she had—but didn’t recognize as a thirst for God.
When Jesus met Zacchaeus He just invited Himself over for a meal.
It was Zacchaeus who decided there were some things in his life that needed to change.
Wouldn’t it be great if Christians were as gracious as Jesus?
If we’d show love and reserved judgement and condemnation, instead of the other way around.
Can we just trust that God can work out the junk in others like He does in us.
Can we leave that to Him?
I’ve known Jesus for over 40 years and I’m still a sinner.
Why would I expect people who are still thirsting for God to have no sin?
Why raise the bar for them when Jesus didn’t raise it for me, or for anybody He met.
If you met Jesus at Target, or the grocery store, or getting the oil changed at Jiffy Lube, He’d talk to you.
He’d say, let’s get coffee and the love you felt from Him would draw you in.
You’d see Him seeing you and you’d know that even though He knew all about you—and your yucky stuff, He wants, He loves you.
And in that moment you’d be overwhelmed by the longing in your heart to know God.
It’s His kindness that leads us to repentance.
It’s divine love that draws us to God.
I don’t want to waste opportunities to share God’s love with people in my town that He brings across my path. How about you?
Think about your latest interaction with a person you think doesn’t know God YET.
Did they feel God’s love through you? What do you think you did or said that conveyed it?
He that wins souls is wise.
If you’ve been winning souls please spill the beans about your experiences.
Go ahead, fill up the comments section—tell us all about it!
