Just Tell the Story

Hello, hello, hello! Glad to see you came back for another visit! Have you noticed the counter at the bottom of the page? We're over 500 visitors since I started this blog! And over 1000 pages have been viewed! The church's website has also picked up some traffic--we just passed 170 visitors over there since I added the counter in January. I pray that you continue to be encouraged through this blog as you read through the "Year of the Bible!"

Here's the question of the day:
Monday: Who were the first to see that the tomb was empty according to Luke? (Luke 24)

And here's the reflection of the day:
The little exchange between the disciples and an incognito Jesus on the Emmaus road (in Luke 24) displays a clever ploy of Jesus. Pretending to be ignorant of recent events, Undercover Jesus asks an "innocent" question: "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" Cleopas replies to him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And Jesus asks, "What things?"

We've probably heard this story before. We know how it ends with Jesus accompanying the disciples to dinner where he breaks bread and "their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight" (verse 14).

I once thought this was a once in a lifetime conversation. But I've been thinking about this little conversation a little more. And it might not be as rare as I once thought.

Let me explain. I think it is more and more common for people to know absolutely nothing about Jesus Christ--his life, his death, and his resurrection. More and more people will be using the words of Jesus, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" But they are not being clever. They are unaware. They have never heard the story.

Now, you have a choice to make. You can focus on the negative aspects of the situation and bemoan and/or wail about the state of the world and the deplorable state of religious ignorance of so many people in the world around you.

Or, you can see the possibility for evangelism in this situation. There are quite possibly whole generations of people who have no preconceived notions about God and no baggage or bad experience because of the church when they were younger. They are blank slates, just waiting for someone to tell the story of a God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and who sustains us with His Holy Spirit.

All we need to do is tell the story; God will do the rest. Too often, when sharing our faith, we think it depends on the quality of our testimony or that it's up to US to help people find salvation. But we give ourselves too much credit; our job is simply to witness to what God is doing in our lives. It's God's job to pass along salvation.

Be on the lookout for those who need to hear the story of Jesus!
Allison