Taken
from the series entitled, Lunch with Jesus
Liza
is a non-believer, yet curious. Kate is a Christian to the heart. She
loves God with all her mind, heart, body and soul. On this particular
day, Liza was reading a magazine and when she turned to the next
page, the membership form fell out of it. So Liza reached down to the
floor to pick it up. On her way up she glanced at Kate and noticed she
was praying. She waited for her to finish, then politely walked over
to her and said, "Hi Kate, may I ask you something?"
"Sure,"
she replied.
"Why
do you pray?" Liza asked.
"Prayer
is my method of connecting with God. I thank him for continuing to
allow me to breathe. I thank him for my family. I thank him for the
day. And I thank him for my food. Then a scripture will come to mind,
such as today, Psalm 118:24, "This is the day, the Lord
has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Then I dwell for a
moment on that verse and say, Amen."
"And
you do this each time over a meal, even a snack like today?"
Liza asked.
"Yes,
I do, "Kate continued, "but not just over a meal. I do this throughout the day, everyday.
Throughout the day I connect with God. My relationship with God is
important. He's my strength, my joy, my comfort, my healer and Jesus is my salvation. Many
times when you see me filing forms or typing on the computer, I'm thinking about the Lord's goodness and mercy."
"Oh,
okay," Liza said. "That's all I wanted to ask. See you back in the office."
The next day, Liza had another question for Kate and Kate kindly
answered. And the next day Liza had another question... and Kate answered again. The next day, Liza asked Kate if she could join her for
lunch. Kate graciously invited her to join her.
For
the next seven weeks, Kate and Liza spent their lunch, as well as
their breaks, talking about the Lord and reading scriptures. Six weeks later, Liza was baptized and now accepts Jesus as her personal Lord
and Savior.
Matthew
18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, I am there in the midst of them."
As
Christians we want to always be ready to give an answer as to why we
have made Jesus our Lord and Savior. We should always be ready to
give an answer as to why we do the things that we do in the Lord.
Oftentimes,
many Christians want to bombard people with their beliefs and many
miss the mark and turn people away from the faith because the focus
was not on God, but what you thought they should be doing and how
they should be believing. The focus turned into you and your judgments and
not on the Lord.
As
followers of Christ, we are to be the light of the world. Matthew
5:14 reads, "You are the light of the world, a city that is set on
a hill cannot be hidden." We are the light of the world, not
condemners of the world.
As we read in John
3:16-19, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He
that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil."
Jesus
has already told us what a non-believers condemnation is. Jesus didn't condemn
people to hell as we see and hear a lot of Christians doing today.
And this method of converting others to the faith, does not work, rather it turns people
away from you and the faith and your God.
We
are to be the light of the world, not condemning and pointing
fingers at others. Be a light and let your light shine among men. Let your light
shine in darkness. And be ready to give an answer when it comes to you
and your relationship with your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You don't have to preach during this time, but let your personal relationship and your love for Christ shine through you, your words, your actions and your spirit.
Until
next time,
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