A Lost Cause

Last night before we hit the streets of downtown I went to Mardels in Frisco to purchase some tracts.

The whole store was full of teacher supplies and I couldn’t find them. I asked a sales associate where the tracts were located and she looked at me with confusion. After a few seconds it clicked and she knew I was talking about those little pamphlets you hand out to share your faith.

They were located in the back of the store.

The far back.

I found them, they had one of each packet with no additional stock. Sitting there like iconic symbols of a Christian past that has been lost. I went to the counter, placed them by the register and reached for my wallet. Then a strange thing happened, I could feel the presence of the enemy and knew I was about to be attacked.

And I was.

The college student checking me out looked at them, gave them a second look, then told me that, “most people are just offended by these, they don’t work.” Now, I have been known to have an opinion so I let him have his own. But I told him, “That is your opinion, for some it is a divine appointment.”

He continued to tell me that they concluded in his college Bible study that they are no longer effective in our culture.

I bit my tongue, and told him we were going to put that to the test.

Strange, it has been a while since I have been spiritually attacked before sharing my faith. So I knew from experience that it was a good sign. We must be going into a war which God will fight and win for us… and He did!

Sure enough, all the guys from Man Night gathered and we drove downtown. Others guys met up with us and we canvased the West End District as well as the Greyhound bus station. First guy we talked to, Mike… didn’t know Christ or the Gospel. He does now. Mike accepted Christ and we hugged… right there in downtown Dallas.

Talked with several more people and with my last two tracts, we handed them to two guys in their 20′s and within 15 minutes we all circled up and they prayed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Nothing we did, but everything God did.

I drove home after last night with a mix of thoughts and emotions.

God rewards faithfulness. It doesn’t matter what kind of evangelism, how you do it, or where you do it. As long as you bring the truth of God’s Word in love that meeting is a divine appointment for someone.

If you are willing to go, God will use you.

And yes… God can use a tract.

It troubles me though the mindset of my generation. More are consumed with what sarcastic and compelling blog Donald Miller can come up than the Gospel. We shrink back at the thought of challenging our culture or bringing the truth of God to it.

People do more attacking then acting.

Our actions reveal our hearts, and our inaction proves we doubt the true power of God. We doubt that He can really change anything, so we spend our time attacking things Christians do rather than sharing the Gospel.

Most are scared.

Christianity is becoming a religion rather than a compelling faith and testimony to the risen Christ. Helping the poor, widows, orphans and justice initiatives are all good things but in and of themselves they are just good works. As James said, they are “pure and undefiled religion” (v 1:27) but at the end of the day, just religion.

They are a means not only to be like Christ, but to share Christ and His message.

Regardless of how you believe you should share your faith in this culture, there is no question that you must. It is a mandate from Christ Himself.

Do you not testify to the goodness of God? To His presence and love in your life?

Then share it.

Jesus said:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” – Mark 16:15

This is a command, not an option. But Jesus reminds us that few will go and few will do what He has called us to.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” – Matthew 9:37-38

I encourage you to go, or to be that person where you are at.

Before we went I was talking to my good friend Julian on the phone and we both admitted that over the course of the year we had shrunk back. We had not been sharing our faith with others as often as we should. We had grown complacent and it was affecting our walk in general.

No guilt, just motivation to get back to work.

And I must say the work is thrilling.

To see someone come into an understanding of what you know to be true, to know that the LORD appointed that moment, and to see them find the joy of knowing God… priceless.

I encourage you to share your faith and to take the initiative to reach out to others. Sure not everyone will want it, but if you do it in love you have done your part, and you will have been the person that God used to give them a personal touch.

Let’s not be a generation that shrinks back.

We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. – Hebrews 10:39

The times do not call for cowards that attack our faith, it calls for men and women that will stand up and do what we are called to do.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. – James 1:22