C28. Evangelizing Believers?
List of the Online Lessons: A B C D E F G H
C28. Evangelizing Believers?
A nice smiling girl, I’ll call her „Tereza“ here, was attending a youth group and was involved in various services. We talked for a while at an event. She was very nice, but somewhere deep down I sensed that something was wrong. At certain point, I asked her in a friendly tone: „Excuse me, Tereza, maybe I have a bit of a strange question: Do you think that God has already forgiven you all your bad things, all your sins?“
„I don’t know,“ Tereza sighed and her smile weakened somewhat. “What do you think it depends on? How can someone achieve forgiveness and then develop a pure relationship with Jesus?” “When they serve Him well?!” she looked at me with a question in her eyes. We exchanged a few more sentences, then I took out a card and drew our familiar Bridge over the Gap on it. “Where do you see yourself in this picture?” I asked. „I don’t know where I am, but I definitely want to be here – with Jesus, with God!“ „And have you already asked Him something in the sense of: Jesus, please come into my life, forgive me everything bad and guide me?“ „I don’t know about that. So probably not.“ „Is something preventing you from inviting Him right now?“ And Tereza beautifully surrendered herself to the Lord Jesus on the spot. If you ever had a similar experience, you might be able to imagine Tereza’s happy eyes. And within a few tens of minutes, she told her fresh experience to several other young people.
Why am I telling you this story? Tereza is not the only one of its kind! Often there are beautiful, smiling people of different ages who have not yet invited Jesus into their lives. And some of them honestly don’t know THAT they should do it and HOW they should do it. Their smile and willingness to selfless service become for us and for themselves a covering with which we settle. After all, they are so nice and willing. And sometimes these are people from Christian homes who should know everything important! But it turns out that they also need to hear clearly the Good News and, above all, a personal challenge to invite Jesus and to surrender to Him and follow Him.
Maybe soon you will find yourself in a similar situation: On the one hand, you see a smile and diligent service in Christian environment, but somewhere deep down you feel that something is not right. Today, with all humility, I do not hesitate to ask the question as soon as possible: Do you think that God has already forgiven you all your bad things – all your sins?“ Sometimes I hear the answer that is pleasant to the Christian ear: „I think so.“ Or even quite convincing: „Well, sure!“ I like to hear this answer, but after various experiences I am definitely not satisfied with it! I keep asking, “That’s great! And how can I achieve this too, to have all my sins forgiven?”
If they are talking about Jesus, about his sacrifice and that I should somehow „accept“ Him, it is beautiful and we can rejoice together! But quite frequently I hear something about the good life, about ministry, about improvement and so on. This is where I learned not to say negation! I’m not saying what he says is wrong. If possible, I pull out a card with a pen: „Have you seen this picture?“ I draw and talk briefly. Sometimes I’ll highlight items that definitely won’t lead us to God and then I’ll ask: „Where do you see yourself in that picture?“ If he points to the right with God or with Jesus, I’ll repeat my question without embarrassment: „How did you manage to get there?” And I will let him to explain. Alternatively, depending on the situation, I will add my own story. Of course, if necessary, I will go to some short Bible passages. When the answer is clear in favor of forgiveness solely in Jesus‘ sacrifice, I continue along the lines of, “That’s really cool! Do you have friends around you who would also need something like this? Maybe complete non-believers!” And I try to teach them how to pass it on to other people.
Oh, Lord, how many beautiful and at the same time somewhat deluded people live for many years in various churches without fully accepting Your forgiveness and Your joy and security together with it. Open our eyes and hearts, please, so that we can approach them with love and courage and really lead them to You!