I’ve been away for a few days. You’ll have to forgive me. Between Seminary, wedding plans, and seven eight-year olds who decided to all come to school in spite of being sick (probably my fault considering they didn’t want to miss all the work I assign), I’ve been quite busy.
I have lately been inspired by some of my co-workers to write about how one ought to listen for the Holy Spirit in one’s daily walk as a Christian. No, this is not going to be an “appreciate the little things” lecture so not to worry. Instead of telling you what you ought to do, I am instead going to defer to telling you what I do and that way you can decide for yourself.
My story this evening begins with my leaving my folks house this weekend and heading for home. It was Sunday evening and I was really wanting to get home to have some time to settle and get a good night sleep before the week began anew. As I was driving through one of the poorer neighborhoods in one of the towns I pass through on my normal drive, I noticed two suited lads going door -to-door. It appeared that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were out doing their normal routine.
That was when it happened. I had the most pointed feeling in my gut as I passed by. My very first thought was, “I need to stop and talk to them.” My second thought was, “There will always be Jehovah’s Witnesses out, you should go home.”
So I kept driving.
Block after block passed by as I continued the debate in my head,
“You need to stop.”
“No you need to go home and get those papers graded.”
“You should really turn around and go and talk to them.”
“Wouldn’t you rather just keep awkwardly trying to sing Bohemian Rhapsody and continue driving?”
“Turn the car around….”
After ten blocks, I was in physical pain and the debate in my head sounded more like this,
“You’re not really prepared to debate a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses right now. You should go home and study more.”
“TURN THE CAR AROUND AND GO AND TELL THEM ABOUT MY SON.”
At that point I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night if I didn’t at least attempt a conversation with these guys even if it amounted to what appeared to me as nothing (which it usually does). I made a U-turn and drove the then 20 blocks back to where I had spotted them. Once I got there, they were already engaged in a conversation with an elderly woman on her doorstep. There was no place to park so I pulled off on a side-street, threw on my hazards, and strolled up to the house. There I was met by not two Jehovah’s Witnesses, but instead, two un-orthodoxly clad Mormon elders preparing to initiate the first of their “Bible” studies with this woman. I introduced myself to the three, told them why I was there, and then requested of the woman a momentary word when she was finished with her conversation with them. The Mormon elders took my info and went on their way. The woman invited me inside.
I spent the next several minutes explaining to the woman who the Mormons were, what they believed, and that they did not affirm the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. As it turned out, she had invited them into her home not knowing who they were but happy to learn about Jesus Christ and his “newest” revelation, The Book of Mormon. She (and her two daughters who came out once they heard a stranger’s voice in their living room) assured me that they would no longer entertain any Mormon Studies in their home and would do some research in the future before they entertained any other door knocking evangelists.
After about only 10 minutes of actual discussion, I found myself back on the road. I only made it a few blocks before I broke down sobbing. I had almost allowed an entire family to be infiltrated by a cult group to save myself what only amounted to be 10 minutes of actual effort. I didn’t have to debate anyone. I didn’t have to be prepared. I didn’t even have to have any Bible verses memorized. All I had to do was say what the truth of the Gospel was. That’s it. 10 minutes.
So what’s my point? My point is to ask you how often your head debates happen to you as a Christian? How often does the Holy Spirit ask you to tell someone about Jesus and what He did? And how often do you find what seems to be perfectly reasonable excuses not to do so? No, this story doesn’t mean that every time you get a funny feeling that you should act on it. And no, I do not mean to tell you that you should stop for every tiny instance someone talks about Jesus. What I do want you to do however is to seriously stop for a moment the next time you are inspired to share the Gospel. I want to encourage you to try and share the Gospel even when you think it won’t matter in the long run. I want to encourage you to not do what I almost did. I have a sneaking suspicion that all that important stuff you absolutely must get done, can wait for 10 minutes.
Especially when that 10 minutes means keeping someone from being led astray by someone else who is willing to give them 10 minutes of their time.
reasonandresponsibility 
Good for you. I don’t yield often enough, though twice now at work I have countered an attack on Christianity without concern for whether or not it will threaten my employment. I am just so fed up with the assumption from the other world view folks that they can speak openly all they want but we can’t speak about Christ and Him crucified.
You are my inspiration!