Young Miss Boh blurted out, "Yes, but when someone asks me the question to which Jesus is the answer, I don't know how to answer!"
This past Sunday I had asked people to share difficulties in talking about faith with their friends, work colleagues, family and neighbors. We were considering the question, "How might we live and speak in a way that causes people to ask the question to which Jesus is the answer?"
Miss Boh has little problem talking to anyone about anything. But she is a new believer and said, “I don’t know enough about the Bible to give a good answer.”
How would you respond to Miss Boh?
Mine was a two-part answer. I said,
“Well, we need to remember that evangelism is a team sport. Remember the METAPHOR (yep, we’re back to that) of the field in 1 Corinthians 3? Paul said, 'My job is to plant the seed in people's hearts, and Apollos waters it, but it is God, not we, who makes it grow.' You see Miss Boh, you don’t need to and weren’t meant to do it all yourself.”
I didn’t want to blow her out of the water with the long-term answer which I later shared with her — spend lots of time in the Bible. Miss Boh looked a bit relieved, because you see, she wants to share Jesus with people now :-)
I springboarded to illustrate the application of the metaphor for the whole church group, replying,
“Do you remember Miss Boh? You, my wife and I were at that county fair in your village. Louise and I went to check out some of the stands; when we came back, you were talking about God with one of the merchants. You didn’t know what else to say, but you introduced me to him, passed me the baton, and I took the discussion from there. Planting. Watering. Together.”
P.S. Thought I would pass on this fresh example of a real life application of metaphor…
2 comments:
Great example! It is a reminder that I needed to hear. I think often about the I Corinthians 3 passage I usually think of it as a longer term process (which it can be). But sometimes that process can be immediate as in this example, when someone passes the batton in a conversation. We even experienced this type of thing last night in a discussion group that we went to. I love the fact that we are often more effective when the Body works together using its gifts. Interesting that the part that can take the longest is the role that God plays...making the seed grow. This requires patience which I too often want to rush. His timing is perfect. Thanks for your insight and example.
Scott
Hey Scott,
Your comment about God being seemingly pokey in the farming process is intriguing. I just had a friend tell me about the grape harvest in California. I do not remember all of the details but the woman was saying that harvesters tend to pick the grapes too early and get all messy doing so. But when a grape is truly ripe it just drops off cleanly into your hand. Hmm, do I hear Mr. Toad playing his violin and reading poetry to his seeds in the garden? :-)
Thanks for the eye opener!
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