No 11

(Our family and friends)

The first reaction for anyone who has become a born-again Christian is to tell their family and friends about the wonderful inner peace they now enjoy because of their new relationship with God and about the certainty of their place in heaven. However, as we have all seen and witnessed, our family’s reaction to our newfound zeal is oftentimes ridiculed. Our friends’ reaction is even worse; they don’t want to be with us any more; we’re like on cloud nine or something. So what is a person to do….? Well, once we have clearly explained the Gospel to our family and friends (assuming they gave us the opportunity to do so, of course), we back off. We don’t continue to push it because what happens to the unregenerate when we bombard them with verses is that they sometimes become so hostile to us, they avoid us altogether; so what’s the point? What we must do is to live our Christian life so that they see Jesus in us and want to have what we have; don’t forget, our job is sowing, not saving. The Bible says in Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” The Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 1:18 “ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”. We back off but we never give up! When we discuss our lives with our family and friends, we could start off our sentences by saying : “The Lord permitted me to….” or we can say “Lord willing I will go....”. They must see a difference in our lives; then and only then will we have an impact on theirs. Of course there is nothing sure about this method because only God knows the hearts “for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7b)