I'm still contemplating the Person of Peace from last week's post. It's simple in theory to understand that a Person of Peace is someone that God has prepared ahead of time to hear the message of the gospel through you We can recognize a Person of Peace as one who welcomes us like to be with us, and attempts to serve us in some way.
However, if we are to be among the masses, we will also encounter people who do not receive us. Mission, Jesus style, gives people the freedom to reject the message. There may be people who reject the message immediately and there may be people who hang around for a while first and then walk away like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. Jesus lays out the truth of the Kingdom, then gives people the freedom to make their own choice. He does not force them or argue with them, he lets them go (Matthew 6:66),
Personally, I find this difficult, and yet instructive. Everything in me wants to say, "you just don't understand," then continue presenting the evidence. But, that is not Jesus style. He allows each one to choose, which sometimes means they will walk away. He is not hostile, he is not desperate, he presents the invitation lovingly and authoritatively, but never forces.
Do you find it interesting that allowing someone to choose, without force, may actually draw them in? When we are persons of peace, confident that the Lord is able to do all he promises, there is something that invites a person to discover for himself if that is true. Mission, Jesus style teaches us that when we are looking for a Person of Peace, we also need to BE a Person of Peace.
How am I allowing the Lord and His Word to mold me in HIS ways? Today I'm drawn to Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
This encourages me to delight in the Lord and share the invitation to the Kingdom with joy and confidence, knowing that my role is only the messenger. It challenges me to represent God well, knowing in advance that some people will not respond positively to the invitation. Lord, grant me the grace to allow people the freedom to choose.
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Often times, when I am in a situation like where I, like you, want to scream, "you just don't understand", I remember these words of Paul from 1 Corinthians:
"What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." 1 Corinthians 3:5-7
So often, we act and believe and share the Gospel as if we were the ones who made faith grow. But this is not what God's Word says; we are the ones who plant and water the seed of faith through the sharing of the Gospel. It is only HE who makes that faith grow.
Knowing this can be both a great comfort and great frustration. A great frustration in that we often do not see or know the results of our labors in sharing the Gospel. A great comfort in that we need not be burdened or worried about how "effective" our methods are, but only concerned with faithfully inviting and presenting the Gospel message to those around us.
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