What I have come to rejoice in is this: our Lord did not command, "Go, fish for men!" He rather promised, "Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men." He did not say: "Go, witness!" He promises, "Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high and you will be my witnesses...to the ends of the earth." And He does make us so: fishers and witnesses. As we follow Him, as we seek to love Him and to love our neighbor, serving them and honoring them and opening our mouth whenever they ask us to account for the hope that is in us, the Lord actually has use of us in bringing others to faith. But He solidly keeps His hands on the verbs for conversion. Not only is it true that I cannot believe by myself; I cannot give faith to a single other person out there - no matter how clever I may be in my attempts. But I can love them, serve them, rejoice in them, and whenever they ask an account - open my mouth to declare this great joy in which we live with our sins forgiven, our death destroyed, secure in the love of a Savior who loves them too and did all this for them as well.
Have you ever been in a conversation where you had the distinct impression that the other person asked a question of you, but really wasn't listening, wasn't interested, was only waiting to talk? How frustrating that is? And yet that's how we've made evangelism come off too often. What a different critter it is when our witness to the Savior comes as a result of genuine inquiry. And with no need to pressure the person - just to share with them the love that we have come to know and rejoice in and live from - and to assure them that it is for them as much as for us. I see that as the Lord's keeping His gracious promise to us - to make us fishers, to make us witnesses. Gift, not demand. Promise, not burden. Peace, not pressure.
6 comments:
"...for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them."
Would that we would believe that God has prepare for us our works - that they are not ours but His and that He prepares and establishes them!
My wife and I have never heard that so wonderfully articulated. This is something we definitely need to keep in mind given that we live in central Maine where there are so many in need of the peace that passes all understanding through Word & Sacrament ministry and we are blessed to be in a confessional Lutheran church that very much wants to grow.
Thank you!
Absolutely the best post I have read on this. AMEN.
I love it. My life as an evangelical was spent trying to avoid the browbeating for not proselytizing enough. Mormons as well are known for "love bombing" potential converts into joining. Contrived forms of friendship reek and most folks are smart enough to see through it.
I've found, as you said so eloquently, when our lives reflect the peace and love of God in our hearts we are a walking witness to the efficacy of the gospel and our Lord Jesus Christ. After all, we are only the seed planters. It is God that gives the increase.
Oh, and congratulations on your
25th anniversary. It must have been a wonderful day for you guys. You are a blessing for your congregation.
Wow. Well said.
Something else occurs to me. I read this in Galatians today: "For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." It occurs to me that is also the gist of your post here.
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