March 30, 2004

Bah.. what is wrong with me? I woke up at 3am this morning. 3!!!! Went back to sleep, and then woke again at the usual 6:30.

We discovered that there is a Korean BBQ place near work, and that's all we talk about all day now.. haha! We're going this friday.

Utmost covered Luke 12:40 (context is Luke 12:35-48). It's the story about Jesus teaching "Watchfulness", a lesson about the servants who must be prepared for their master's return. It immediately made me think about family members and close friends who are unbelievers. If Christ came back today, I would seriously resent not sharing God with them. There are people who I've shared with already but I don't think I've tried hard enough.

It's like when you tell someone about God, and if they don't outrightly reject it, you feel some sort of comfort because you can always go back and share more, but then you don't because you're afraid they'll get completely turned off from it. It's like asking a girl out - you can be happy just being her friend and not take the next step, because you're afraid that they'll say no and things will be awkward between the two of you afterwards. Of course there's a big difference between sharing Christ and sharing a pizza. Ah, but I am digressing..

And then there's the people who did completely reject it. Whether it's because they just don't feel that void in their life, or don't realize that they're obsessing over something that has temporarily filled that void, such as a hobby, or a religion. Regardless of their reasons, they just refuse to listen and could wind up hating you if you shared God's love with them. Again similarly it's like a girl who is already in a relationship or just came off one. You just don't know whether to share the gospel with people like that. I don't think I've ever shared even attempted to share Christ with my muslim friends, for instance. And atheists, are like women who have sworn off men forever because of a bad relationship. Again.. digressing..

I spend the evening in prayer (okay, maybe not, but I spent a good 15 minutes!), praying for friends and family who have rejected God. Ultimately those are the people I would most regret not trying harder with because it be like "Brian, if this was so important to you why didn't you try harder to convince me? I thought you loved me?" sort of thing. I thought of my grandmother and uncle, and then of other people's immediate families.

Pray for a soft heart, for opportunities to share with them, and for their willingness to listen. If you have the faith, you can take it a step further and pray that the Spirit moves them to a complete turnaround. I've seen it happen before, an entire family touched by God over a span of a couple of weeks. God is so amazing! Yes, it can be done! And it starts with prayer, regular and ferverent, and purpose driven prayer!

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