So today's MUFHH (My Utmost For His Highest) devotional was
PHENOMENAL for me. It would be for December 20 at www.utmost.org .
For some reason it hit home how getting people saved is not
my burden, but his (Gods). I grew up Baptist. Hellfire and brimstone. Get
saved, then NOT be told how to live, how to adapt, how personal it was, and it
was all rules, with no understanding of the rules... not rules for punishment
but for protection, not rules to be mean but to show how imperfect we are
and our need for him.
I didn't understand where I fit in to this picture.
I grew up watching people become missionaries or go to
seminary or bible school, watched them go on mission trips, or door to door
handing out tracts. I was told about telling people about Jesus but it freaked
me out, how do I do that without sounding like a zealot? I didn't understand
where I fit in to all of that. What was MY call? What was I do to? How could I
"do" for God? I didn't fit into the textbook roles.
All in all it
eventually pushed me away in my late teens and early 20's. Oh God never left my
heart, but my living was out of control. Seeking, searching, fulfilling, in
whatever way I deemed in the moment.
This devotional today shares in the most
simplest form I've ever heard for sharing Jesus. Here's what came to my mind after
reading it, it's basically a hypothetical conversation between me and someone who doesn't know Jesus:
______________
"You need Jesus, but I'm not here to win you over to him. You
see, everyone has an empty spot in them that needs filling. We all try to fill
it with people, with physical gratification, with ambition, money, prestige,
cars, houses, stuff, accomplishments, we try to earn, move up the totem pole of
success, we try and try and try and often fall on our face and wonder why.
But
the fact is that the hole in us can only be filled by the one who created it.
So no matter what you do, you may find temporary satisfaction, but it won't
last. The only thing that will give you true lasting satisfaction and
fulfillment is a relationship with your creator. He's a gentleman, he won't
force his way in. You have to ask him. He can't give you what you don't ask
for.
So if you're going to turn away and scoff, well, that's on you, you're
missing out. You will never know God until you turn to him and ask him to show
himself to you. But if you want him, he's there for the taking. If you even
turn towards him, he will start making himself known to you. But you have to
want it. YOU have to seek it. You have to ask for it.
Until you do, you won't
see him or know him. He'll keep himself behind a veil just beyond your sight.
So you can scoff and question and be sarcastic and cynical all you want, but if
you ever decide you want to know God and what he's all about, if you REALLY
want to know, just ask. He'll start to show you."
______________
Wow. That's as basic as
it gets. It's not about me saying "You need Jesus" and someone
getting all offended and smart alecky and then me having to defend God with all
of the fantastic numbers of scripture I have memorized.... It's about me making
an intro and then loving them. Me making an intro and then letting the Spirit
do His thing. I love them where they are at and put the ball in God's court (which to be honest, God ALWAYS has the ball, we just THINK we have it at times. ;)
A guy walked by my desk here at work and saw a
bible website on my screen and started calling me "one of those
crazies". He said "You know, more and more people AREN'T believing in
God and at the end, there's just going to be a small group of you
crazies...." (I was thinking, gee if you only knew how accurate that
statement is. But not in the way that you think.) Now you have to understand
that he is the type to argue about ANYTHING. We had a BRIEF discussion, but I
found myself in offense (for God) and wishing so bad that I could argue God's
case. But in this devotional, it reminds us that God doesn't need us to CONVINCE anyone, we don't
have to defend him. He his OUR defender. We need to introduce him to others (and preferably have our loving actions likewise backup the intro) and if people
don't want him, that's on them. It is not our burden to convince.
God created
the hole. God creates the desire. Some fight it, some give in. He waits for
those who want him. If we love everyone, then those who come around to wanting
him, can more easily can see him through us. But it is not our responsibility to woo
over every lost soul. That is actually God's burden. Our challenge is to NOT to
get in his way and NOT be someone's stumbling block and to JOIN him in his work. :) I just found this so
freeing, so thought-provoking, so awesome today.
Be Blessed!
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