Going To Make Disciples: A Duty Of All Christians
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(2) Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (3) And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. (4) Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. (5) Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. (6) Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.’ (Colossians 4:2-6)
With some folks who I’ve prayed with or witnessed to, I don’t normally get the opportunity to follow up to see if the ‘seed’ planted has germinated. However, a while back we took our 2016 ‘Silver’ Kia Forte to the dealership to replace the tires and have routine work done. We’ve been taking it there, to this day, along with our other Forte (our 2014 ‘Red’, my former work car) for what little maintenance is required (usually just oil changes).
We were supposed to have one service manager take care of us but when we got there for our appointment, he was not there so another service manager stepped in. The gentleman was someone we had before, and ironically it was for tires for our 2014 ‘Red’ Forte, except it was to replace one of the tires we had put on the day before (the one ‘bad’ new tire had a rather large bulge develop). During this previous episode, we had gotten there at 3:30 PM and by 5:00 PM, the garage’s closing time, our car had not yet made it in to get the tire replaced. This gentleman found our paperwork that was misplaced, and got it taken care of immediately and we had our replacement tire put on and were ready to leave at 5:30.
As I try to always do, I asked him, as he walked us to our car, if he needed prayer, and he started to tear up and said, YES! His fiancée had epilepsy, and their plans for marriage was thrown into doubt as she would need treatment. We prayed on the spot, and asked the Lord to walk with them, to give his fiancée strength and healing and give him strength to persevere. He said he was a Believer, and praying for him meant a lot to him. He was truly touched, and thanked Shirley and I for praying with him at such a late time in the day.
Several months later (thanks to the Fortes’ reliability we don’t have to go to the dealership often), we returned to have some work done on ‘Silver’ (the tires and oil change). The gentleman who I prayed with was not there the day I dropped it off, but he was there the day I picked it up. The smile that came over his face when he saw us was ‘HUGE!’. I noted he was wearing a silver cross necklace, and I asked him how he and his fiancée were doing. The gentleman told me they were now married, they attend a local church together, and he proclaimed this is the happiest time of his life.
His wife is now able to drive due to her treatments, and while we were wrapping up the dropping off portion of the visit, she called him, and you could see his joy over him. Despite his desk being buried in papers, he was still joyful and again walked us out. This time, he asked we pray for their continued good health and for their Faith, which I told him, of course!
This is why we as Christians need to interact with people as the only ambassadors of Christ they may ever see; we never know – except for perhaps once or twice in a lifetime – how our interactions may help someone. I will continue to pray for this gentleman and his wife, and I hope (over an oil change and nothing else), though he no longer works at the dealership and I’m not sure if I will see him again.
Personally, when I read Colossians 4:2-6 it is as a prayer, and not simply as a reading of Scriptures. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), which I continue to press (‘Go and make disciples!’), is Jesus’ orders to us as His ‘foot-soldiers’; He knew He would need His followers to share the Gospel with others. Not just acquaintances or people we know but with everyone. When Paul wrote Colossians, he was in prison and could not go himself to the Church at Colossae. He wrote his Epistle to the Colossian Church to implore them, as Jesus did to all of His disciples, to go teach and make disciples on their own. He gives in a nutshell a set of instructional steps for the art of witnessing:
- Devote yourself to God in prayer and thanksgiving.
- Pray for hearts to open to listen to the Gospel message of Christ we you provide it.
- Pray for yourself to have the ‘intestinal fortitude’ to provide the Gospel to others.
- Pray that you provide others the Gospel clearly and with understanding and compassion to all.
- Pray that you provide the Gospel every chance you get.
We all know there are friends, family members, work colleagues, neighbors, and others we know well who we need to share the Gospel with, and sometimes these are the most difficult to share with. Equally difficult is the person who we don’t know; how will they react? Truthfully, there are those who do not react favorably. A colleague of mine, a man of Jewish origin who was agnostic (bordering on atheism), refused a gift of a Bible after 9/11 – the only person who refused out of about 100 people I worked with. I continued to, without provocation or confrontation, try to bring the Lord to him in indirect fashion. (Unfortunately, he later died of an accident at his home.)
Later, I had folks who saw my Bible and Christian literature on my desk at another command on base and ridiculed me (some to my face, some did so out of earshot – or so they thought). However, one of those same people came back for prayer later when their wife was diagnosed with cancer. We went into a conference room and prayed for the Lord to touch him and his wife, and for Him to heal her to show His love. You will have those who say, ‘no.’ You will have those who will be much stronger in their refusal. But it is important that you plant the seed.
Paul’s letter demonstrates that sometimes it may not be possible to do face time with someone; it may be someone over the phone or a text, or a written letter sent by ‘snail-mail’. Encourage other Christians and witness to others as best you can under the circumstances. I don’t know if anyone picked up my Bible or took some literature to read when I was not at my desk, but I hope that the Lord pointed out to them Scriptures (I did have John 3:16 and John 14:6 bookmarked for just such a contingency). You never know who may need Jesus when you see them, and you may be the only Ambassador of Christ that they will see.
