I am en route to Colombia! I’m grateful for a shorter-than-ever day of travel (less than 11 hours!). As I wait for my first flight, I wanted to post for you a blog post I wrote almost 7 years ago. Enjoy!
Friday, January 6, 2006 – (my senior year of high school)
A full understanding
Philemon 1:6 – “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”
I have never had a “full understanding” of this verse until a couple of hours ago.
Once again, I was at the Salvation Army serving lunch. I was reading “Share Jesus Without Fear.” As the other times I”ve been reading it, it stirred up a desire in me to share my faith. Because God has shown me so much about His perfect love the last few days, it builds up in me and I just want to share it with someone.
I was reading this and thinking about a couple of opportunities I had missed the last few weeks. I looked out into the gym where people were eating, and I saw a guy I’ve noticed for awhile. I met him for the first time several months ago, and he had been on my heart ever since, but I had never really talked to him much. I decided I didn’t want to miss another opportunity, so I went out there and sat down at the table. There was plenty of help in the kitchen so I didn’t mind leaving. Plus, a huge part of the ministry there is actually talking to people.
So I sat down and started asking this guy about his life, his job, his girlfriend, etc… I then asked him, “So do you have any religious beliefs?” I didn’t go through the whole process because this guy already knew the Bible. He already knew that God could save him. BUt he told me, “I don’t want to live the life of a hypocrite. I could tell you what you want to hear, but I know that I wouldn’t live my life like I should.” I was glad about that. I was glad he was real with me. He listened as I talkeda bout God’s love and God’s desire for his children.
I shared what God has been doing in my life, showing me His love. He listened very closely. He was very open when I offered to pray for him, and I prayed that God would reveal Himself to this guy in a new way. I talked to him for about 40 minutes, and by the end I said something like, “I suppose I should get back to my job…” He looked at me and said, “Aw, don’t worry. My soul is more important than your job. Thanks.”
What an eye-opening statement. So true. This guy’s life is so much more important to God than my “ministry” serving lunch. He told me that he would think about what we were talking about. I asked him if he has a Bible, and he said he does and he even reads it. I told him to read it again, and see how much God loves him and desires him. He laughed and said, “Could you be just a little more vague? Just ‘read the Bible’?” I directed him to John, where it talks really deeply about God’s love and His redeeming plan. He left saying, “Thanks. I am going to go read John.”
Back to the Philemon verse. After talking with this guy, I had, once again, a deeper understanding of “every good thing I have in Christ.” What a great reason to share my faith! I was amazingly overwhelmed once again by the love that God has for me as well as for this guy. Wow, how amazing He is. I’m looking forward to God bringing more divine opportunities, that I may continue to come to a full understanding of what He has for me.