About this past weekend...

[Mercy Road Music]

Every second, seven people die.

EVERY. SECOND.

What are we going to do about that? The only thing we can...

Our Savior gives us eternal life FOR FREE. Doesn't cost us a thing to share.


Well, it does sometimes cost us something to share: a person's perceptions about us, our time, our money, emotional involvement, planning... but it is not a cost with a benefit worth ignoring.


Last weekend, at Stand & Be Counted, a man who had held a knife to his throat the evening before, in that very same park!, gave his life to the Lord.

But that wasn't the neatest thing, to me.

Two unassuming young men, late teens/early twenties, gave their lives to Christ. It could be one person, together, that their new lives influence. It could be thousands... Or more. I have no idea! But I was EXCITED to meet them, to welcome them home, and to witness that miracle.
When I saw them, I knew that they would impact lives. To what measure? Does it matter? I was praying that just ONE person "Got God" due to the effort and love that was put into that event. There were many, many people saved and brought closer to Him - a blessing, to be sure!

If every second of effort and obedience and faith and practice and prayer and money and time and patience and love and and and... and "I" I put into serving Him influences ONE person in turning from death to Life, it is enough.

But how amazing, how wonderful, what a pleasure!, to be there to see 2, 6, 10, 40, 100, 1,000 people come to Him, or return to Him, or grow closer to Him!

Rewards in Heaven, yes; we are told. But rewards here? Bonus.

And how He changes us each time we listen to Him - and how He grows us - is an enormous gift as well. Like a plant being tended by a gifted gardener; the plant flourishes, blooms, becomes extraordinarily beautiful and exponentially fruitful!
This is not something that's focused on often when talking to other Christians about evangelism, as I hear it. It shouldn't be THE focus, but... It's a HUGE part of one's walk, as much a part as reading the Word and praying, because listening to Him is encompassed in both of those activities. We listen to Him when we don't quite get a verse. We listen to Him when we pray for something or about something. Sometimes, we wait. Sometimes the answer is swift.

If we listen, if we read, if we pray, we hear God telling us to tell ALL about Him. To love ALL. He loves ALL of us! ALL. Not some. Not most. ALL.

And so we are commanded to do so as well: LOVE ALL.

'Commanded' (as a verb) has such a nasty, forceful feeling behind it in our world. It's now often used as a depreciating device; an instruction, or word, or action that makes us feel 'less'.
But when someone you love asks you urgently to do something, you do it. BECAUSE YOU LOVE THEM.
Same thing with Him. Obedience to His urgent request.

We love God? We do what He asks us, urgently, to do. Those whom we love flourish. As do we.

Cate