After some street witnessing Thursday night, we were talking on the way home and sharing stories of the encounters we had. One of the girls was telling us about a person she met who had all sorts of weird ideas about God and the Bible. She was wondering if their conversation did any good at all.
Have you ever been there? Have you spoken with someone who adamantly insists that the Bible says some crazy thing, (which you know it doesn’t) but they can’t remember where it says so? Or else people say things like, “I believe God is like this,” and go into describing some far out fairy tale?
I know it can be a bit unnerving to deal with these situations, and you can even walk away feeling a bit defeated if it appears they don’t receive the truth when you present it to them. But don’t be discouraged! Think about it. Every weird doctrine of false impression that person holds is something that someone taught them at some point in time, and they remembered it. That little seed that someone else sowed bore fruit. It shaped their view of God. Now YOU get to be the voice of reason who shows them, from the Scriptures, what is really true. You never know how far that seed of truth will go, or how much fruit it will eventually bear.
If I think back to before I was a Christian, I can remember believing all kinds of far out things about God. There were people at different occasions who took the time to correct those false impressions. I even remember being contentious with some of them, but the truth did stick with me. Not one of those people ever saw me come to Christ, but they all played a part in leading me to Him. Each of those people had a hand in planting the seeds which eventually bore the fruit of bringing me to the Lord.
So when you are sharing the gospel with your friends, neighbors and loved ones, aim for repentance. Aim to bring them to Christ. But if all that happens is you get to sow more seeds of truth into their lives, rejoice! Your work is not a waste! Pray for that person, and know that God’s word doesn’t return void. He loves them more than you do, and He is pursuing them and working on their heart all the time.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58