My words ended our yelling match—the man was speechless. Now satisfied that I had gotten the upper hand, I walked back to my car and sped away. He had cut me off and was now paying for it with my hurtful words.
That road rage incident of 25+ years ago shows you what kind of person I was prior to following Christ. I was not only spiritually lost, I had tons of sinful habits including a violent temper and a foul mouth.
Praise God that the Lord has changed me over the years. While I’m far from perfect, I haven’t cussed out or threatened other drivers for several days. Just kidding.
Really, if you had known what I was like back then you wouldn’t recognize me now. While I could be charming and personable when I wanted, I was the king of sin in both heart and behavior. The only thing that prevented me from doing something bad was the fear of getting caught. There was no fear of God. None.
But then came the phone call from my good friend, Sean. Considering he had an inoperable brain tumor, he was awfully happy and chatty. When I asked what was up, he told me: He found Christ.
That Sunday I attended church with my friend and the spiritual blinders were lifted. For the first time ever, the Bible made sense. And Jesus wasn’t just a curse word anymore, He became real.
Why do I share this embarrassing episode from my past, along with how much I’ve changed? Because I’m guessing there’s a “Chris” in your life. That is, someone who’s far away from God and needs to hear about Jesus.
And the only way he or she will hear the good news may be through you. Yep, that’s right, maybe you can be the person’s “Sean.”
“The Lord… is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”1
While the Lord is waiting patiently for unbelievers to repent of their sins and follow Him, let’s not forget that people run out of time. If you’re not following the thought, people die. And those who die without accepting Christ will “perish.”
That was the fate I was facing until I became a Christian at the age of 35. Not good.
So who do you know that is as spiritually lost as I once was? Somebody hopelessly selfish and oblivious to the things of God? Come on, think about it. Surely you know someone who needs to hear about Jesus.
Come on, keep thinking…
Yeah, that guy/gal.
Now, what are you going to do about it? If you don’t speak up, who will?
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’"2
1 2 Peter 3:9
2 Isaiah 6:8
You changed yourself. The power was completely within you without God's intervention. What one needs is awareness and motivation to change. If God helped you do that, all power to him, but this was completely within your power. Give yourself the credit you deserve. Also, not everyone needs to hear Jesus. Some of us have and have decided to pass, or some of us have our own spiritual traditions we'd like to celebrate in peace.
ReplyDeleteThink about the unwanted words your spewed at that man. Think about how much that may have hurt him. How much he didn't want to hear that. And summon some compassion to think about what could have been going on in his life at that moment?
The same questions can be applied here. Some people are in a spot in life where the concept of Christ saving them is actually burdensome or hurtful. Sometimes, while your intentions are good, their effect is less so. And that is not these people's fault. Rather, you assumed your words would have a certain impact without taking the moment to consider.
Please, people, do not just go up to people and preach. The times have changed. Many will even get angry at this sort of approach.
Instead, could you try and speak to God or Jesus and ask what you should do personally?