St Michael’s vision is to see more and more disciples of Jesus shining as lights in our city.
Which of us doesn’t want to see that personally? We all want to see our family and our friends rescued by Jesus.
But actually getting involved in letting them know about Jesus worries us. Conversations are rarely about God or Jesus or anything Spiritual. How will they react if I start talking about Jesus!
This fear is real and all of us feel it. Yet we would still love them to be rescued from hell and live with God and his love forever.
God wants us to be part of his harvest, experiencing something of his joy when someone is rescued by his son.
Here are three things I always do, and I think any Christian can do…
Pray! Mark Smith says ‘Praying is free!’ It costs you nothing – no risk attached. The first and best thing we can do to be a part of more disciples shining brightly in this dim world is to ask God to rescue them. Only he can change a person’s heart. I make a list of family who are not in God’s kingdom, and work colleagues, and friends, and even people I don’t like. And I let God know I’d love them to be rescued by Jesus.
Love! The second thing is to love them. Telling others about Jesus and his great rescue is the best way to love them, but not the only way. So many ways to do nice things for someone. Thinking of ways to be thoughtful, considerate, helpful, generous. And cutting out the niggly jokes and other things that might irritate them.
Be Honest! Thirdly, I always let people know I went to church last Sunday, that I am a Christian. While praying is free, owning up to being a Christian has a little risk. It might get a bite from some, but probably not too much.
I have always done these three things with family, at my workplaces, and with friends.
Sometimes people respond telling me they too have a faith, and are pleased I said something. And sometimes people have come back to me, often out of the blue months later, and asked a question: “Joe, you’re a Christian, what do you think about…”.
Sometimes I enjoy speaking boldly and clearly about my hero, Jesus to anyone anywhere. And sometimes it doesn’t seem appropriate. But I always do these three things, then wait and see what God will do with them.
Here is a (sad) story someone told me. A Christian friend of theirs (‘Pete’) retired from work, and his colleagues threw a party on his last day. One colleague made a speech. He said that ‘Pete’ was the best person any of them knew. They couldn’t understand how he could always be so nice, no matter what others did. So they talked together, and decided he must be a Buddhist!
God loves to hear us, people love to be loved, and we need to be honest about who we are. God might make them his light because you shone in these ways.
Joe Radkovic | Assistant Minister
