Near and Far

I often find myself tempted to try to "figure out" God's plan for salvation - to try to discern who in my life will next receive God's grace and become "saved."

I remember a few years ago when I first realized the foolishness of this all. To think that there are always signs to indicate where God's spirit is going to move and whose hearts are going to be changed.

Because people are fickle and deceitful and misleading, and God is not.

How many times have you thought you were making progress with someone spiritually, sharing the Gospel with them, looking for signs that their heart was softening, only for them to almost "lead you on" in a spiritual sense? They visit church a few times or maybe even start attending regularly, they read the Bible, or at least talk about intending to explore the Bible, but eventually you realize they are not really changing. They are still hardened.

And how many people know of someone so hard, so hurt, so angry, so evil, who was changed by God instantly? In a moment, the Holy Spirit entered into their unlikely heart and their ungodly life and transformed them forever in the name of Jesus Christ. Think of Paul on the road to Damascus. Think of the friend you know who was literally saved by Jesus while high on drugs, on the brink of suicide, at a treatment facility for any number of disorders or addictions. Think about those who are saved while serving a life sentence in prison for horrific crimes.

I personally know people who were saved by Jesus in some of those situations above. They did not appear to be seeking the Lord. They were not searching. They might have even openly admitted a hatred or at least a mistrust or an unbelief in God, and yet He invaded their lives at exactly the right time.

This is not to discount that a slowly softening heart is sometimes an indicator of God's grace in someone's life. Sometimes it really does happen in the pretty, predictable way. You invite a friend to church. They might say no at first and then they accept. They are interested. They have questions. They seek your counsel. You point them to the Bible. You might point them to another Christian leader. They are open to God's word and over the course of days, weeks, months, or maybe years, they learn and trust that Christ is their Savior.

But there are also people who appear to begin this journey to salvation only to harden their hearts repeatedly or more deeply during the process. They might go to church and mock it. They might read the Bible only to scrutinize it in their unbelief. They might ask questions only in a prideful attempt to baffle or argue with believers. Although at first this interest can look like a spiritual awakening of sorts, it is really only a hardened heart actively attacking the church instead of living in apathy like many other unbelievers.

My point to all this is that I have had to destroy the conceptions in my own mind that I can figure out who God is going to save. Sometimes He saves through an invite to church, sometimes He saves in the midst of a drug overdose. I don't know what God is going to do, because He is so powerful and mysterious in a beautiful way.

All I know is this:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved... -Ephesians 2:1-5

We are all dead before Jesus invades our hearts and lives and makes us alive. I once was dead, and God made me alive in Christ. God can save those who seem near to knowing Him and those who seem far, far away from ever loving Him. There are no limits to God's grace. And, really, whether we seem near or far does not change the fact that we are dead without Christ. You can't be more dead than dead, regardless of whether or not you have ever visited a church or read the Bible. So instead of trying to figure out who God might save next, I want to live a life where I passionately share the Gospel with all, because God in His great mercy sometimes saves those who seem near and sometimes saves those who seem far away.

Wanting to be in a Gospel Choir right about now... can you feel the Holy Spirit in this place?

Gosh, the book of Acts is just so good. I fall more in love with it everytime I read it, which hopefully means I fall more in love with Jesus everytime I read it, because the book is all about HIM. Jesus left earth to return to the Father with this message: "...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8) and then Jesus made His command of evangelism possible by sending the Holy Spirit. Seriously, within weeks the Holy Spirit arrives at Pentecost and the believers (about 120 of them at the time) begin preaching the Gospel all around Jerusalem. Soon their numbers total 3,000 and then 5,000 believers. Peter, John and others are persecuted by the same jealous Jewish rulers who killed Jesus, and yet they continue preaching boldly. When they are whipped for sharing the Gospel, they rejoice that "they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" (Acts 5:41). Jerusalem, check.

Then Stephen is stoned to death for proclaiming the Gospel and many of these new Christians flee Jerusalem for safety, since the church is being persecuted so badly in the city. Where do they flee to? All of Judea and Samaria, of course, and they share the Gospel there. Judea and Samaria, check.

During this time, Saul, who at first is one of the leaders instigating this persecution against the Christians, encounters Christ while on his way to arrest Christians in another city (yes, Jesus is in heaven at this time, but he appears to Saul because He has big plans for Saul's role in the spreading of the Gospel). Quick change of plans. Saul, who eventually is called Paul, converts to Christianity and become the most productive missionary in all of history. Over the course of three long missionary journeys, he is able to carry the Gospel all over the Roman Empire, eventually winding up in Rome itself. During the time period, the Roman Empire covered all of what we now consider Europe and the Middle East and even parts of Northern Africa. Ends of the earth, check.

But I only recap all of this, because I never ceased to be amazed at God's plan to share his Word with all the earth and the way He made it possible through mere men in such a relatively short amount of time. But the truth of it is, it really didn't matter who the men were or where they lived or what they said...they were able to share the Gospel so boldly and effectively because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the one causing the apostles to speak in other languages (Acts 2), causing people to be healed simply by standing in Peter's shadow (Acts 5), and creating encounters that lead to repentance and baptism, such as Phillip and the Eunuch (Acts 8).

Evangelism can be tough. People's hearts are hardened. There is so much blindness, ignorance, pride, and selfishness out there, including my own. I am a Christian, and yet I am often blind to who needs the Gospel, ignorant of how to share God's word, prideful and embarrassed to talk about God if it might be awkward or unsuccessful, and selfish because I allow so many other things to fill my time when I could be talking about Christ with people who do not know Him. And yet Christ sent the Holy Spirit to overcome all that. The Holy Spirit sees the hearts of all and knows who will be receptive to the Gospel. The Spirit gives us the words to say. The Spirit can work in spite of our sinfulness and selfishness. He can create encounters, soften hearts, open mouths and ears to the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. Sure, it might not happen the same way it did for the apostles. I might not end up speaking fluently in another language I do not know in order to share Christ, but then again, ANYTHING is possible. The book of Acts gets me excited and prayerful about God's heart for the world and the work of His Spirit on this earth. Who does He want me to talk to today? Who does He want you to to talk to?