What Have I Done with My Life?
Check out the quote below and tell me what you think.
“The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?” ~Martin Luther
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I guess because of our growth, and people emailing and asking how we are doing it, I’ve been wondering about my focus.
Obviously, the above quote is fairly harsh…..but does it describe me? I think I must honestly say that for most of my Christian life I have been one ‘….to sit among roses and lilies.’ I think something fundamental has changed in me over the last six months. It is sad to me that it required my traveling to the other side of the world to figure this out.
You see, before I lived here I spent the last ten years of my life living in Bowling Green, Ky (7years, and Atlanta, GA (3 years). I was blessed with wonderful Christian friends and mentors in both places. They are very ’safe’ places to live for a Christian. I love many, many people in both places and these comments are not meant for them…..these comments are about me, not you…..It’s my blog, remember! 
It just seems that most of my past Christian life I’ve been content to just spend time with other Christians. Don’t get me wrong I’ve been busy…..attending studies, prayer sessions, potlucks, helping people, serving where needed, get-togethers, and numerous other events. I’ve been very diligent to read my Bible and say my prayers. But ultimately, what has all of that meant. I had a great time, have great memories, and made many great friends. I grew closer to God and grew up alot in those places.
But how many lives did I touch with the gospel in that time? not many. How many people did I serve that never knew Christ? very few.
You see the questions about what are we doing here to grow, really caused me some concern when I first heard them. Because I thought to myself, ‘I’m not doing anything different.’ But that wasn’t really true as I thought about it some more. The truth is that there is one fundamental difference in my life here. The difference has not seemed like a major shift…..I wouldn’t pretend to call it earth-shattering, but it is very important.
The difference is that I now stay busy doing all the same things that I’ve been doing for the last ten years, for believers AND non-believers.
You see many Christians talk about how they don’t know what to say to non-Christians….they don’t know what to do. So we stay safe in our insular groups, we keep busy with ‘church activities’ , we read spiritual books, and we feel good about our Christianity. The truth is that reaching the lost does not require any special skills, or ‘action plans’, or ‘personal evangelism’ seminars. Reaching the lost is about treating everyone the same. We treat everyone the same by treating each person like the individual, eternal soul that they are. By showing the same love, attention, and care for the lost that you show to your brethren.
It’s not complicated, but it can be hard. It’s hard to talk to someone about salvation or prayer when they don’t care about it like you do. It’s much easier to sit around with a bunch of Christians and talk about it, bc they are as into it as you are. The above quote reminds me that mercy, grace, and love are important truths to be shared with ALL people, not just other Christians.
I’m not saying that you should quit spending time with other Christians, I am saying, ‘I need to stop worrying about feeling ’safe’!” Christ has guaranteed our eternal safety! This should free us up to take the risks necessary to reach the lost! Risks like rejection, pain, loss, and (God forbid!) feeling awkward. I hope this week I’ll be willing to take some risks for the sake of the gospel! I pray you will too.
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Hey Eddie! First of all I just wanted to tell you how encouraging your words are to me every day when I get an email saying you’ve posted something new, and I’m so glad everything is going well in Perth! But I’ve been thinking lately along these same lines..I went to college with a lot of goals for my walk with Christ in mind. During my first semester of college, I just wanted to stay grounded in my faith and not stray from following God because everyone at home told me college was gonna throw a lot of temptation at me. That went pretty well–studying God’s word, seeking fellowship with other Christians, “safe” things like that– but now I wonder why I’ve done nothing to share my faith with others when I believe that’s one of the most important acts of worship. How do you maintain a close enough friendship with someone to share the gospel with them without getting all caught up in the world?
Very inspiring words.
Hey brother, I found your blog through a friends blogroll and glad I did! Coincidentally I just finished a sermon by Erwin McManus that spoke briefly about the effect we have on other people’s life. It is far more important how other’s will tell of our story and the effect we had on them then for us to do it.
What is amazing for me when I think of this is that I rarely see the effects I have on people. I only hear of them. But my greatest fear is to have no effect, to live in the roses like you said.
We need to live dangerously for God. He calls us daily to run with Him into the dark places of the world to bring light to them. He saved us, why shouldn’t we save others??
Keep up the inspiring thoughts!
ER
Eddie…those things you wrote about above are things I struggle with everyday. Thanks for the good thoughts!