William Fay says that on average, people need to hear the Gospel 7.6 times before they get saved. Today, I think I encountered polar ends of the spectrum.Â
I went to pair up with Lily Lou for outreach today. Neither of us were particularly on fire for the Gospel at that moment - we kind of bought some food and wasted 15 minutes just sitting and laughing even as my conscience poked at me the whole time. Complacency is an uphill battle.Â
When we finally got up to go, the first conversation we had was with an atheist that wasnât antagonistic - but he calmly nodded and shrugged his shoulders at all the right moments. Very politely engaged, but pretty disinterested (honestly, I think itâs the most painful for me when people are indifferent). I asked him where heâd think heâd go if he died this moment, and he said very blasely that if God didnât exist, he would fade into nothingness. If God existed, probably hell - but he didnât really care. It didnât seem to bother him at all. I thanked him for taking the time to talk to us and we left; the conversation had no life, and the only thing I could do was to lift up a prayer for God to stir up something that I couldnât.
Lily and I were ready to talk to a girl eating lunch. But once I opened with my usual, âHey, my friend and I are walking around asking people about their spiritual beliefs! Do you have a second to answer a couple of questions?â She instantly shut down and said she didnât want to talk. We thanked her anyway and as we walked away, a guy named Greg approached us and asked, âHey, what are you guys asking people?â
Greg instantly opened up. He shared that his parents were Catholic (a lot of Catholic families on CSU campus), and he believes in a God/higher power but not really Jesus or Christianity. We talked more, and he started opening up about how fearful he was about death. That recently, the idea of nothingness or hell gave him anxiety to the point where he was hospitalized for panic attacks. He didnât know what the point of this life was if it was all to end in his consciousness disappearing, but he felt like he was helpless to do anything about it.
At that moment, I felt the Spirit like a slow burn in my chest. It was filling my lungs and my voice and my words just suddenly felt so powerful. We went through Romans road together, and when we got to Romans 10:9 (confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead), he suddenly stopped and said - âthatâs where Iâm struggling. To believe in my heart.âÂ
I shared my testimony with him, how for the years that I didnât believe or completely doubted the existence of God, a lot of my fear was because I didnât want to have a false hope. Even though I accumulated enough head knowledge to see that Christianity made the most sense logically, historically, evidentially and got to the point where I could break down basically every other world religion (and atheism) in five minutes, it still wasnât enough for me to believe either. But it was only until I made a bargain with God and went to church for the first time in a long time of my own will when He fulfilled it (I had nothing to lose if it was a coincidence), that He met me so powerfully and tore down every wall of unbelief and fear that I had put up in His relentless, overwhelming, perfect love for me.Â
Everything I had tried to do to convince myself by researching, reading, watching Tim Keller dialogues and debates - these things were important, because apologetics assures us that our faith is not blind (for the Bible tells us to examine everything), but they became so small in the face of who God was and my encounter with Him.
I shared, and as I finished, I felt like the Lord was pointing me to one more verse. Romans 10:13 (For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved).Â
And I asked him if he had ever asked God for help to believe, and he said no. And then I asked him if we could pray together and ask Him right now - and he said that he didnât know how to pray, but he would repeat after me.
And we prayed, and I looked up and Iâm not sure, but I think I saw tears in his eyes. Greg said he would come to our Bible study tomorrow - that heâs ready to give God a real shot.
Idk Iâm writing all of this when Iâm supposed to do my Bible project right now, but God, I am excited.Â
God, Your Spirit is moving and I am a witness.
God, You are alive and Greg is going to be saved sosososo soon. I know it, because Your Spirit is telling me so and I am so sure of it in my heart and in my bones and -
I am unworthy. Thank You.Â
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