Do you feel like a Christian? Maybe I should ask, “How does a Christen feel?”
Last week I went to Muscatine Lawn and Power to purchase a part for our lawn mower. As I entered, I saw the owner, a man named Chris.
I did not feel like talking with him about the Lord. I had already talked with Chris about God a couple of times earlier. He is a nice fellow and has always listened. But this time I made an inner decision to not witness.
I got the mower part (and buried my impulse to complain about the price which ws higher than quoted).
Then I spotted the restroom. At my age, a person has to use the restroom more frequently than a young person. In the men’s room I remembered “Chicken Evangelism, bring up Christ before you ‘chicken out'”.
That thought must have been from the Holy Spirit . . . .
I spent the next 3-5 minutes sharing Christ and His good news with Chris. As usual, he listened to my story. I reiterated how God healed me a stage four, inoperable cancer. Chris seemed impressed. I made sure to share the gospel: Jesus Christ died for our sins. Mine and yours. People saw Him after He rose from the dead. He went back up into heaven. I continued to make the gospel as clear as I could.
“Does all this make sense to you, Chris?” I asked. He responded affirmatively.
“So what is keeping you from accepting Christ? I queried.
” I don’t know,” he replied.
We chatted a moment or two longer. I departed with the words, “We’ll talk again.”
As I got into my car to leave I remembered the research. On average, it takes an adult 7 times to hear the gospel before he responds. Well, I thought, “This man only needs about 4 more people to share Christ with him before he is saved. Lord, please send four more witnesses to Chris.”
As I drove toward home, I suddenly realized my own feelings. I felt so good, so-o-o-o-o-o good! I felt elated. It was beyond satisfaction. I felt happy that I had shared good news with this man. I was excited. I was hopeful.
We all know that life, especially the Christian life, is more than feelings. Yet feelings are important to us.
After sharing Christ, I had an indescribable sense of supernatural joy. I couldn’t wait for my next opportunity to witness. I wanted to do it again!
I felt like a Christian!
As I reflected about this, an idea came to my mind. “Perhaps people don’t act like a Christian, because they don’t feel like a Christian.”
Witnessing is one way to remedy that.
Great story, Mark.
You are a wonderful example to me. Thank you for modeling this for me. Two days ago, Daniell, a college girl, came to our door to sell us a package deal $120 to deal with all kinds of insects in the grass. I checked with two of my kids. Meanwhile, we talked about other things, religion. Then I narrowed in and said that we are Christians, the kind that believes God is real and the Bible is true. I asked her questions as we went along. Then Karen shared a personal testimony. Then I shared about the work of Christ. I asked her if she wanted to invite Christ into her life to make her a new person. She said, “Yes.” So I said, “You can pray. You can talk with the Father and tell Him what you want and He will give it to you.” She did. Then we talked about what just happened. She was very happy and thankful. It worked. We talked about what she could do to stay close to Christ. She wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Her openness to the Lord blessed Karen and me. I called her the next day to follow up. She was responsive and friendly. She may come to hear me speak on Sunday, because I will be in Jordan, only about 20 minutes from Eden Prairie where she lives.
Great story! We walk by faith, but it’s so wonderful when the Lord gives us the “feeling” of joy, too!
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