Last week at work, I was part of a conversation about ‘Karma’, and someone (a non-Christian) said:
“I don’t think anyone can do anything selflessly. Even if we receive nothing in return, we’re motivated by the good feeling we get for helping someone.”
It was incredible! Just like that, the door for a conversation about the broken nature of our world and sin opened up.
The great thing is, opportunities like this aren’t uncommon. I have witnessed my co-workers often stumble across the Jesus-shaped hole in their lives; whether longing for a world without suffering, a deep need to feel like a ‘good person’, or an overall lack of meaning or purpose to life.
These conversations have been a great encouragement to me so far this year. I have never been limited by opportunity to share the gospel, only by my own boldness.
In an environment consisting mainly of young adults, many of whom have never heard the Gospel explained, a Christian is something of an oddity to my co-workers. The main reaction anyone will talk about Jesus is curiosity. Which is awesome! When I started working, I was apprehensive of an openly hostile environment towards Christianity, but instead, the LORD provided many people who are at least willing to listen.
That’s not to say that it’s all plain sailing. I’ve had a little pushback from co-workers who want nothing to do with Jesus. And just recently, one of the people I had been having a conversation a week with moved away to Europe. At the time, it felt so frustrating to have so many things left to say. There were even feelings of failure creeping in. Should I have been quicker? Could I have fit more in to our time? Some Bible verses I heard at Growth Group were an encouragement to me:
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
I might not ever see that particular person again, but I know that they have now heard the Gospel. I don’t know who else they might meet who could continue that work. But I can trust that if this person is to be saved, it will not be through anything I do. Only God can make things grow.
Knowing this gives me a great sense of assurance. Assurance that I can rest in God to do his work. And it is not as if there is now a lack of people in my workplace who need to hear the gospel. As Jesus says in Mathew 9,
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out works into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:37-38
For me, the harvest is often only a metre or so away. Going to work in the mornings means flipping burgers and picking grain. And for that, I am grateful to God.
Justin Blanch
7pm
