Monday, April 5, 2010

On Evangelizing

When Jesus looked at people, He saw them as hungering (or not hungering) for the living God; when He met the woman at the well, He saw her thirst, not the fact that (1) she was a woman, and (2) a Samaritan (part of a different belief system and thus "less than" the Jews), and (3) a "sinner" and thus an outcast from the social structures of the village.  She came to the well at noon, when she'd be sure the other women had already filled their jars and departed, so she wouldn't have to endure the stares, the gossip, and the scorn of "respectable" folk.

Humility is seeing each person as on a quest for the living Presence of God, not measuring their "wrong doctrine," but realizing that whatever we have has been given to us and thus can also be given to them.  To each of us has been given a measure of the Spirit of God, and the Spirit Himself will lead us into all truth. 

Isaiah says, "The arm of the Lord is not too short to save...." that is, no one is out of reach of God's love and mercy.  I have often read that we should speak to God about men before speaking to men about God.  And Jesus said that no man could come to Him unless the Father draw Him.  Let us be sensitive to the work of God and keep in step with His mercy, not provoking or arguing about doctrine, but trusting the Spirit of God to do His work in those we love. 

Jesus spoke to those who came to Him; many turned away and He watched them leave, not running behind them.  Those who came to Him without hunger, but only to argue their point of view and their "right" way of doing things received nothing from Him.  But those who hungered and thirsted for righteousness and goodness received that which they sought and were satisfied.

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