Some may be offended if a Christian were to talk about those who aren’t Christian as “lost souls.”
Truly it can be seen as derogatory. Or at least maybe as judgemental. But as i walked through the store today, my mind started seeing people differently.
I’ve always loved people watching. It fascinates me looking at the many personalities of people of different cultures. Or maybe from the same culture but different upbringings. All different kinds of kid/parent combos. You’ve got the kid screaming no matter what the parent does, you’ve got the well behaved cute kids sitting in the cart, you’ve got the curious one who wants to try and push the cart themselves, etc.
But all of these people that I’ve seen in the past are strangers. Interesting strangers, but still only strangers.
Today I started seeing them differently and I know it is coming only from trusting in God and asking him to change my heart.
Even though I’ve bee interested in “missions” for a long time, I struggled not truly loving others. I’m a very selfish person. When I really got to the root of the matter I realized that I didn’t care about people’s eternal well-being. I cared so much more about people’s perception of me that I wasn’t willing to have conversations with people or put myself in uncomfortable situations, even if it meant potentially having another person join the party that Christ invites us to.
As I was at the store, I started seeing the people around me as image-bearers of God. People that God made and wants a relationship with. Even those who didn’t know Christ and may have done many bad things in their life are still people that God loves and desires to come to know Him.
How could I walk around the store and stand-by as many of these people are preparing what they’ll eat for lunch tomorrow but maybe have no idea where they’ll spend eternity. People I may never see again in my entire life. Here was one moment to share truth with them. Maybe they don’t listen but how can I not at least try to speak truth or at the very very least, pray for them.
Even in the midst of these deep desires and feelings, my inward self wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to comfortably shop for what I needed, and then leave with not more than a friendly nice to meet you conversation with the cashier.
As I walked past a couple for what seemed like the 8th time it felt like I had a voice screaming in my head “TALK TO THEM!” I tried desperately to shut it out, the last several times being able to reason my head out of it by saying “maybe if I see them in the next aisle” or There’s someone else right by them and that will be awkward” or The couple split for a second and I don’t want to be weir and only approach one.
Finally, I was walking out of the aisle with my cart, and they popped up right in front of me. I couldn’t bear the screams in my ear any longer. I don’t know exactly how to approach it, so I told them the truth:
“Hi, this may be super weird and I feel weird doing it, but something was telling me that I should come up and talk to you guys and ask if you needed prayer for anything in your life right now?”
This is the part where you hear about some crazy story where they’ve been asking for a sign and then they’ll follow Christ, right? Where you see how God ordained this conversation to happen and made something very practical and easy to see come out of it.
Well, you’ll be disappointed then when I tell you, they simply said “we can always use more prayer, sure!”
I got their names, asked a few more questions, then prayed for them. I wanted to keep the conversation going. I had a tool for sharing the gospel at the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t force myself to say it. God had opened the door for me so much to get here, and yet even now in the conversation with people who were opened to it, I couldn’t keep it going and see if they were believers or if they still needed to hear the good news of the gospel.
I felt so blessed by God to be able to be used in that moment. Do I have any clue what-so-ever what came from the prayer? Do I know if they thought I was a complete weirdo after I left? A big nope. But God used it for his purposes. And even if they thought I was a weirdo, I was able to pray with them, and God listens to all of his children’s prayers.
After so much prompting from God, it was still such a struggle even to go and pray for someone. I never even got the chance to share the gospel or see if they had heard it, but that’s okay. The most important part I’ve realized is just STARTING! Obey God’s leadings, promptings and commandments.
He’ll use it from there.
Where might God be prompting you yet you remain silent? Stop it. You are missing out on being used by God. And you’re the only one losing.