Telling My Story

Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house" (Mark 6:4).

Although what follows will be an application to my own circumstances, I am not claiming to be a prophet in the sense Jesus used the word above. As I understand it, "prophet" refers to one who "speaks for God". This is often used to refer to those who are directly inspired to speak word-for-word His message (such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, etc.) That said, christians are called to tell others about the good news (Matt. 28:18). Acts 8:4 indicates the early christians did this, "Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word". So in a sense, christians are also, in their own way, to speak for God.

Being eager to talk about some of the lessons learned in the last 2-3 years, I've brought up some of these in numerous conversations with friends and relatives. These friends and relatives have included those with whom I attend worship. Many are not interested in talking about spiritual topics and would rather discuss worldly things. Some seem to actually take positions that surprise me in light of the history I believed them to have with Bible concepts. However, the response of those outside my normal circle of believers is what surprised me most. There are people that are hungering for spiritual growth and seeking diligently for ways to actually apply Biblical principles.

A short conversation with a co-worker resulted in an invitation for me to "tell my story". Imagine this. Several men from another church are planning to assemble together on a weekday evening (not a church service) to talk about ways to be more spiritually minded. I told my co-worker about some fairly radical applications of Bible principles and he was not turned-off. Instead, he immediately invited his friends to hear my story, because he knew enough of their circumstances that he believed this message would encourage them to serve God and their families in a better way.

So it is interesting to see who is hungering for spiritual food. It is interesting to see who will make the time to seek it...and who will not. It is interesting to see who is satisfied with religious traditions and who is not interested enough to continously re-evaluate traditional views. It is interesting to see who doesn't mind laying their hearts open before God to be examined and who, by their defensiveness, appear to lack trust in God and His word. It is interesting to see who has enough faith to think that truth can come from numerous sources and not only from full-time evangelists.

So a small group of us will assemble soon. Our prayer is that we will honor God in this assembly. If you are reading this and are feeling uncomfortable, I suggest you pray that God will use this time for good...and have faith that He will do so.