A man entered a village and asked a gal in her wisdom years, “Ma’am, can I find Christians in your village?”
“What kind?” She asked. “The 7th-day-kind, those that meet on Saturdays, or the Sunday-kind?” The man looked at her and said “The everyday-of-the-week kind of Christians!” To which she replied. “That kind, we got none.”
Is our faith visible? Or, is it on airplane mode? Faith is personal, but not private. Billy Sunday asked his 1800’s audience “Does your milkman know you are a Christian? Does your newsboy know that you have religion? Does your butcher know you are on your way to heaven?”
Evangelism is a calling for some, but a command for all. Not everyone is called to be a pastor, a missionary, a seminary professor, a theologian. But, we are all invited to have faith conversations with people we rub shoulders with in our daily circle. A natural platform God has entrusted our family is the adoption office, hospitals, airports, stores, parking lots, churches, refugees… did I mention hospitals? God keeps on giving us a Hospital Ministry on a regular basis. (I genuinely hope He will not give us a Jail Ministry. Hence I am a relatively careful driver, for fear not to end up there.)
Our primal audience where we talk faith, is home. As my husband would remind me “If we win anywhere, sweetheart, it must be with our girls at home.” Home is our starting place, our Jerusalem. We must not stop there, but take God-prompted risks in our Samaria too.
In 2020, someone asked me how many conversions I had in my pocket that year. We are missionaries after all. Tongue-tied by the well-intended, but performance-driven question, I stuttered. “None.” Although I share the Gospel everywhere and anywhere, and I don’t leave the house without a Bible-ready to give to someone, I strive to count my conversations than my conversions.
Talking about our faith can get intimidating. If we only could train our brain to see it as a joyful responsibility, or better said a way of life.
A friend encouraged us this week to not see workout as a duty, nor healthier diet as a burden, but as a way of life. She challenged us to cultivate a different type of thinking that will help us retrain our tastebuds.
Talking about faith can become as natural to our lips as talking about our pet, our last vacation, or our favorite politician. (Do we even have such a thing?)
Faith is an audio-visual symphony. We must be audible with our voice, and visible with our life.
“As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.” Proverbs 27:19 NIV