The fruit of a righteous person is a tree of life, and one
who harvests souls is wise. Proverbs
11:30(ERV)
You get a lot of think time when
pressure-washing. My machine is old,
leaky, and was never a fun ride; but it works…and forces me to take note of
what it teaches. These are five thoughts
about sharing your faith with others:
#1. Go Slow
It doesn’t help a pressure washer’s performance to “jiggle”
the wand. You may think so, but it then
becomes more about your technique than what the machine was designed to do…clean
throughly. In sharing your faith with
others, commit to taking on a project without jiggling. Your friend’s soul is worth it.
#2. Remember What Does the Work
Like going slow (#1), letting the
machine do the work will yield the best results. The “machine” is a combination of your
witness and willingness. Sharing what
has happened to you when God got through to your mind, heart, and soul, is what
the Holy Spirit will use to reach another human soul. It’s never about fancy
gimmicks; it’s all about God’s love, and our willingness to love others as He
does.
#3. Keep the Gas and Oil Full
If the gas tank empties, you’re going nowhere in the
cleaning business. And if you don’t keep
clean oil lubricating the engine, your machine may burn up – which, again, means
you’re done. Think of the gas as prayer. As the engine depends on gasoline to keep
going, so your witness depends on an uninterrupted stream of contact with God’s
Holy Spirit. And think of the oil as the
reflecting pool God uses to help you remain functioning, and not overtaxed by
the burden of the work. My car is 10
years old and is approaching 200,000 miles…it still runs smoothly, quietly, and
efficiently, because I missed zero oil changes!
#4. No Light Passes Over Hard Stains
There is a tendency to rush through any job, skipping
over the hard stuff, just to get it done.
When you’re sharing Christ with the intention of helping another with
his or her eternal soul, there are some things that will require much more
attention than a simple exchange of information. Be ready to hit the hard stains, some of them
may be the tipping point of a new soul born into the Kingdom.
#5. Break Before You Break
My pressure washer always seems ready to serve, except
when I make him work a whole day. When
that machine gets tired and overheated, it’s best to let him rest and cool-down
a bit. I’ve learned to work in 1-2 hour
shifts, and give the machine a rest (along with the operator). When sharing your faith, remember you are in
the stressful arena of eternal soul matters.
Responsibility can make any machine overheat. You’re no different, and God wants you whole
and useful, and joyful. Too much strain,
without appropriate breaks can lead to a break-down.
For You Today
One of the best lessons I’ve learned is a
pressure washer is not much good in storage.
Unless it is used, it will rust, and need a lot of repair before it is
ready to help again. Same thing with your
witness…it was designed to be at-hand, and always at the ready to lend a hand
to someone else’s soul-cleansing.
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper on
today’s topic explore some of these: Churchspeak and Forgiven Witnesses
[1] Images: WikimediaCommons Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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