Ever come across a person that was just a mess? I mean, when you spoke to the person, you couldn’t grasp how they manage to get from point A to point B, everyday. How did their life become such a conglomeration of conflict and turmoil? They are a toxic combination of moral bankruptcy and religious confusion, topped with combativeness. You can hardly stand to be around them but they desperately need help. It’s useless to try to explain God to them because they obviously don’t know Him and they have a baseless suspicion of Christianity and anyone associated with it. So you miss the role you were meant to play in their lives because you just couldn’t put up with their nonsense and now you feel convicted about it. Guilty!
Did you ever think that your experience with that person was never really meant to be the time for you to jump in; to open that fire hose and blast God’s full force into their face? Or for you to stumble through misinterpretations and half-truths trying to explain exactly what you believe. What if that encounter had nothing (or little) to do with them at all? What if that time was set aside for you to reflect on your own preparedness to handle future assignments?
I think we can agree that God knows what He’s doing and if His mission for that person was urgent; to have the person accept Him now, He wouldn’t have chosen you, in a state of unpreparedness. Maybe that chance meeting was a fork in the road and a warning to be prepared to do a better job of using Him, to share your faith. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV).
Could it be that you were trying to convince them with your logic rather than to allow God to convert them with scriptural truth? Sometimes we don’t realize when we’re in the way. We take it personally when we give good advice and people acknowledge that it is good but then continue as they were. Often people already know what’s wrong, they just don’t know what to do about it. Pointing it out only reinforces their suspicions about Christian self-righteousness. Could it be that you were so personally challenged about their situation that you weren’t able to focus on answering the real questions they had? Could it be that you were offering too much of yourself and not enough Jesus?
Being patient enough to simply pray with someone or share your testimony hardly seems to be enough to us. We often feel like the situation calls for advice, direction and the kitchen sink in order to immediately pull them from their burning crisis. But once you’ve opened a door, you can’t continue to stand in the doorway and still let someone in. You must remove yourself from the process. God only needs us to open the door. He is the key! A battering ram will work in an emergency but why use it if you have the key?
“For we ourselves also were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” Titus 3:3 (NKJV)
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