Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. [Colossians 4:5-6 (ESV)]
I was attending a “Women and Wealth” seminar when we were asked to name the most important value we wished to pass on to our families. The answers were variations on the value of education, self-sufficiency, financial independence, business expertise, and a good work ethic until it came to me. When I said, “Faith in God,” my answer was met with stunned silence. Of sixteen of us, mine was the only one involving faith in God or any of the things that go along with it such as compassion, gratitude, forgiveness or generosity.
After Bible study that evening, many from our church gathered for fellowship at the nearby food court. The woman beside me confided that she didn’t know how or what to pray for her critically ill niece and we talked about prayer and faith in God. Although I don’t know her well, our shared belief made us comfortable sharing our thoughts and concerns. As I looked around the gathering, I had a pretty good idea how the rest of our group would have answered that morning’s question about values. They all recognize the importance of education, financial security, and work but they are people of faith; more likely than not, their answers would have indicated that faith.
Studies have shown that the longer one is a believer, the fewer interactions he or she has with non-believers. My experience that day told me why—when we’re with our brothers and sisters in Christ, they get “it.” Even when we don’t know one another well, we have an ease with each other that makes us family. We’re on the same wavelength; even when we disagree, we talk the same language and love the same Lord. The longer we are believers, the tighter our social group tends to become. We’re with one another during worship but also in choir practice, small groups, planning committees, service projects, or social events. Looking at the past month’s calendar, I saw that the majority of my social life centered around church activities and Christian friends; not all bad, but not all good, either.
In our last small group study (about evangelism), it was pointed out that most Christians aren’t very good about sharing the gospel, but not because we don’t want to share it. We spend so much time with other Christians that we’re rarely hanging around anyone who needs to hear it shared! It was suggested that we make a point of spending time with those outside the faith. We’re not talking about preaching on street corners or walking the beaches handing out religious tracts; we’re talking about making friends with people who aren’t believers. No one is asking us to abandon our circle of Christian friends but we should consider widening it.
Sydney Harris said that people tend to buy nonfiction books they think will agree with them. Saying they’re looking for enlightenment, they’re actually looking for confirmation of their beliefs. Pointing out that, “The stone of opposition sharpens ideas,” he adds that we’ll never truly understand our position until we understand our opponent’s. While he was writing about political opinions, his point is well taken. I know that I tend to seek out friendships with people who look, think, believe and act much the same way I do. Yet, when I think about it, some of my most rewarding friendships have been with people quite unlike me. Those are the friendships that have broadened my horizons and helped to define my faith. I hope that they’ve helped other people see Christ in a new way, as well.
Pastor Bill Hybels speaks of evangelism as simply walking across the room but we can’t do that if we’re never in a room with an unbeliever. That women’s seminar meets again next month and, while I’m not sure I have much in common with the rest of the attendees, maybe I can learn a little more about them and their beliefs and, maybe, just maybe, they’ll learn a little more about mine!
As Christ followers, we’re accountable for regularly moving in circles with people far from God, uncovering their stories with compassion and grace, and then naturally and consistently making ourselves available when God opens a door of opportunity. [Bill Hybels]
Write them [God’s words] on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. [Deuteronomy 11:20-21 (NLT)]
For thousands of years, during their weekday morning prayers, observant Jews have worn tefillin. Sometimes called phylacteries, they are small black leather boxes attached to leather straps. Inside the boxes are four sections of the Torah from Exodus and Deuteronomy. The verses pronounce the unity of one God in what’s called the Shema, the promise of blessings for obedience and warning of retribution for disobedience, the obligation to remember the Jews’ bondage in Egypt, and the responsibility to transmit their faith to their children. One box is strapped on the left arm so to be near the heart and the other is strapped on the forehead. The placement symbolizes that God’s word is to be impressed upon both the heart and soul.
Having heard that I write Christian devotions, the man looked across the dinner table and asked, “Have you always been religious?” The unexpected question from a Jewish man I barely knew caught me off guard. While I knew he wasn’t asking for a long salvation story, I needed to answer his simple question. I faltered through a brief explanation that I couldn’t remember a time I didn’t consider myself a Christian but that my faith grew deeper as it carried me through some really rough spots in life. Having no idea where I’d go from there, I heaved a sigh of relief when the table’s conversation moved to another topic.
Our small group is studying personal evangelism and the study guide suggested writing a note of gratitude to the person or persons who helped point our way to Christ. After all, the single greatest gift any of us can give someone is an introduction to Jesus. Since mine was a gradual journey and, other than my mother, no one immediately came to mind, I skipped this simple step. After finishing the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, I’m reconsidering.
Yesterday I happened upon a wood stork enjoying a fish breakfast. I was astonished as the stork swallowed the whole wriggling fish in one big gulp. “I’ll have to put that in my gratitude journal,” I thought as I walked on. Later, I spotted two woodpeckers hammering away at a tree and got up close and personal with a pond snail laying eggs. Two more for the journal, I thought. Did I put those little blessings in my journal last night? Shamefully, I forgot to write in it at all; worse, I totally forgot about them in my nightly prayers!
