I so eagerly wanted to have the opportunity to witness to someone today and at my first appointment this morning God provided it. The opportunity however was not dropped into my lap. I had to turn the conversation to the things of God. Let me try and explain what happened.
I had to meet a Pickens County sheriff at one of my bank foreclosed properties this morning. We were there to change the locks, well I was there to change the locks and the sheriff was my backup and to make sure everything went ok. After about 20 minutes of trying to get into the house the sheriff needed to leave to run some other calls. When he turned from me and started to his patrol car this thought went threw my mind, Brian do you care about this mans eternal salvation?
Well I did care and called to the sheriff right before getting into his car. The conversation went something like this: “Sheriff can I ask you something real quick?” “Sure.” “Do you believe in God?” “Yes I do.” “What do you think happens to people when they die?” “Well, I think they either go to heaven or ---------hell” (he seemed sure about heaven but less confident about hell, then I asked him the big question). “How do you think you’re doing, I mean, you’re a law enforcement officer and know better than anyone that today could be your last day. If you stood before God today and He asked you, ‘why should I allow you into heaven’, what would you say?” After some stumbling around he said that he accepted Jesus as a small child.
Now I’m having some issues right now with these words, “Accepting Jesus”. Jesus is not some weak, beaten, scared, finite savior. He does not need us to accept Him. He is the God of the universe, the Alpha and the Omega and the Holy King over all things. Jesus accepts us when we humble ourselves before Him, acknowledging our sin against Him by confessing, repenting and putting our faith in Him. I might write a post about this in more detail after some thought and prayer.
Anyway, the sheriff and I had a good short discussion about God. I really stressed to him how important it is for us, as believers to witness to the people around us. There is a great analogy that I read in WOTM which I shared with the sheriff. I will now share it with you:
Imagine pulling up to a home that’s on fire. Flames are coming out of the roof and smoke seems to be filling the entire house. There is a small child standing crying in the front lower window. In front of the home parked in the street a fireman sits all geared up ready to go. But instead of using his training to fight the fire and save the life of the child, he is just sitting in the cab of the fire truck reading the paper and having lunch. This firefighter has the knowledge and ability to save the little child but is choosing not to do so. How does that make you feel about the firefighter? You should be outraged and deeply troubled that he is not lifting a finger to do what he is trained to do. This is a mental picture of professing Christians who do not go out of their way to share about the eternal consequences of dying in your sins. We are trained and have the ability to bring this knowledge to the unsaved through the Holy Spirit. People are passing into eternity ever day and if we believe what the one that we claim to follow Jesus said in Matthew 13:49-50, “That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the godly, throwing the wicked into the fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” we should be so ever concerned about the eternal consquences of our family, friends and even strangers.
Charles Spurgeon said, “If we are not concerned about other people's salvation, we would be wise to be concerned about our own.”
Remember we do nothing on our own but can do all things threw Him. We need only to plant the seed and let God handle the harvest. Are you ready? Tell someone about Him today.
Oh one quick note, if you are not sure you are saved click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment