Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
Paul wrote this to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13. We're told in other parts of scripture to preach the gospel, to share the Good News, to tell others of the love of Jesus Christ.
Yesterday a van pulled into our driveway with a well-dressed couple inside. My husband noticed it and went to see what they wanted--we were working in the back yard and didn't realize they had been at the door already.
"Oh, hi! We didn't think anyone was home," the man said. "We left an invitation on your door."
"An invitation? To what?" my husband asked, as we had never seen these people before.
"To a resurrection day celebration!" The man replied.
"Oh," husband answered, "are you Jehovah Witnesses?"
"Yes, we are....."
And so the next twenty or so minutes passed with my husband sharing what he believes to be the Truth about Jesus Christ. They discussed scripture & tried to convince each other of the Truth as they each know it.
The woman in the passenger seat finally said "Can I tell you something? We often come acrossed people who say they are born again and saved, then they shut the door on us. You are the first person to try to lead me to Christ. Thank you."
My husband was stunned, pleased, saddened, hopeful. He planted a seed of Truth to the couple, along with their children and grandchildren who were also in the car and for that opportunity he was thankful. They pulled out of our driveway knowing that someone cares about their eternal destiny, maybe they'll start questioning and come to know the real Jesus.
We were saddened when we realized that we should be as bold and responsible as they are about spreading the Gospel. How many Christians that know the real Jesus do you know that gather their entire family into the car every Saturday morning and drive house to house to share what they know? What would happen if we did? Many of us think our daily walk is enough, or our blog is sufficient. These things are all good, but take a minute to imagine if as many of us "born again, saved" Christians as Jehovah Witnesses piled in our vehicles and went house to house on a regular basis to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Are we too busy? Too bashful? Would we feel foolish?
I'm spending some serious time in thought and prayer over this. Scripture makes it clear what we should do, regardless of our personalities or feelings. We need to stop being so busy, so bashful and start being bold about what God wants us to do.
