am i really shopping for jeans?
greg stier recently shared a story on his blog that got me thinking about some of my own experiences, and what God is trying to get me to learn through them. greg shared that he was in the grocery store with his kids recently, when a woman asked him to help her read some juice labels. thanks to the woman's dog recently being hit by a car, along with greg's son being very talkative, it turned out to be an opportunity for him to minister to this lady who was angry with God, not so much because of her dog, but more so because she had recently lost her son to cancer. (follow the "greg stier" link to the right for the whole story).
some months back, i was in the mall shopping for some jeans. while in one particular store i felt the need to initiate a conversation with the sales clerk in an attempt to share God's message with her. i asked some questions about where she was from, what Christmas was all about to her (it was a week or two before Christmas), that kind of stuff. as it turned out, she had grown up in church, but really didn't understand the whole point of faith in Jesus. i had the opportunity to explain to her that God created us for a reason, and that no one exist by accident. I told her that because of God's perfection, our natural tendency to do things our own way instead of God's way permanently separates us from God and there is no amount of good we can ever do to erase all the bad. i explained to her that because of God's love for us, he was unwilling to leave things the way they were, so he sacrificed his own son to pay the price for everything wrong about us, and that by receiving the gift that Jesus offers, we can be reconnected to God. it took some time and she had some questions, but she was receptive to everything i said. the interesting part is that, although she had grown up in a Christian church, and had Christian parents, she had never heard the gospel in an understandable language. she said, "thank you, no one has ever explained it to me that way before." she told me that any time she ever asked questions, she was told "just believe the Bible."
don't get me wrong, following Christ is all about faith. without faith it is impossible to please God, and we are saved by God's grace because of our faith in what he has done through his son Jesus. but that's a different topic for a different time. the point is, i thought i was shopping for jeans, but God had something else in mind.
i've had similar situations recently. a couple months ago, my wife and i were eating lunch in a restaurant, when a guy recognized me from a job i had about 5 years ago. i politely exchanged a "it's good to see you again," finished eating, and went on to do some shopping. wouldn't you know i ran into the guy again - and this time a conversation developed. turns out, the guy had recently become a Christian, but was somewhat discouraged by some things he had seen other "christians" involved in. our discussion progressed into the topic of God paying such personal attention to our lives, and the amazing part was seeing this guy's eyes almost literally light up as he realized that every day we wake up, we have a purpose for that day, given to us by God. He never intends to waste any day of our lives. he left the store that day with a renewed excitement for following Christ, and i left hearing God say, again, i want you to be ready for anything.
how many times do we miss out on what God wants us to do because we aren't ready? the people we work with, the neighborhood we live in, the stores we shop, the restaurants we frequent, the hobbies we enjoy, the sports teams we are involved with - are these really just coincidences, or did God direct our lives here for a reason? 2 Peter 3 tells us to always be ready to respectfully answer anyone who ask us about our faith, and Jesus tells us to spend our lives proclaiming His message. when we chose to follow Christ, we didn't become employees who clock in, clock out, take weekends off, go on vacation... we became soldiers enlisted for every moment, the rest of our lives. God wants to do the big stuff. He wants us to "turn the world upside down." in Christ, He was reconciling the world to himself, and has given to us the same ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5). the only question is, are we always ready?
greg stier recently shared a story on his blog that got me thinking about some of my own experiences, and what God is trying to get me to learn through them. greg shared that he was in the grocery store with his kids recently, when a woman asked him to help her read some juice labels. thanks to the woman's dog recently being hit by a car, along with greg's son being very talkative, it turned out to be an opportunity for him to minister to this lady who was angry with God, not so much because of her dog, but more so because she had recently lost her son to cancer. (follow the "greg stier" link to the right for the whole story).
some months back, i was in the mall shopping for some jeans. while in one particular store i felt the need to initiate a conversation with the sales clerk in an attempt to share God's message with her. i asked some questions about where she was from, what Christmas was all about to her (it was a week or two before Christmas), that kind of stuff. as it turned out, she had grown up in church, but really didn't understand the whole point of faith in Jesus. i had the opportunity to explain to her that God created us for a reason, and that no one exist by accident. I told her that because of God's perfection, our natural tendency to do things our own way instead of God's way permanently separates us from God and there is no amount of good we can ever do to erase all the bad. i explained to her that because of God's love for us, he was unwilling to leave things the way they were, so he sacrificed his own son to pay the price for everything wrong about us, and that by receiving the gift that Jesus offers, we can be reconnected to God. it took some time and she had some questions, but she was receptive to everything i said. the interesting part is that, although she had grown up in a Christian church, and had Christian parents, she had never heard the gospel in an understandable language. she said, "thank you, no one has ever explained it to me that way before." she told me that any time she ever asked questions, she was told "just believe the Bible."
don't get me wrong, following Christ is all about faith. without faith it is impossible to please God, and we are saved by God's grace because of our faith in what he has done through his son Jesus. but that's a different topic for a different time. the point is, i thought i was shopping for jeans, but God had something else in mind.
i've had similar situations recently. a couple months ago, my wife and i were eating lunch in a restaurant, when a guy recognized me from a job i had about 5 years ago. i politely exchanged a "it's good to see you again," finished eating, and went on to do some shopping. wouldn't you know i ran into the guy again - and this time a conversation developed. turns out, the guy had recently become a Christian, but was somewhat discouraged by some things he had seen other "christians" involved in. our discussion progressed into the topic of God paying such personal attention to our lives, and the amazing part was seeing this guy's eyes almost literally light up as he realized that every day we wake up, we have a purpose for that day, given to us by God. He never intends to waste any day of our lives. he left the store that day with a renewed excitement for following Christ, and i left hearing God say, again, i want you to be ready for anything.
how many times do we miss out on what God wants us to do because we aren't ready? the people we work with, the neighborhood we live in, the stores we shop, the restaurants we frequent, the hobbies we enjoy, the sports teams we are involved with - are these really just coincidences, or did God direct our lives here for a reason? 2 Peter 3 tells us to always be ready to respectfully answer anyone who ask us about our faith, and Jesus tells us to spend our lives proclaiming His message. when we chose to follow Christ, we didn't become employees who clock in, clock out, take weekends off, go on vacation... we became soldiers enlisted for every moment, the rest of our lives. God wants to do the big stuff. He wants us to "turn the world upside down." in Christ, He was reconciling the world to himself, and has given to us the same ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5). the only question is, are we always ready?
posted by Jonathan Branch at 3:11 PM
1 Comments:
Does anyone cross our path, intersect our lives by accident?
Post a Comment
<< Home