As I drove down the road, I had in my mind a town to go prayer walk and seek to witness to someone of the goodness of Jesus Christ. Yet when I came to the place where I should turn right, I felt the Lord telling me to go straight to a different town. I was a little surprised, but trusted God as He has His reasons.
I parked and began prayer walking the area. It was a nice day outside and I noticed several people walking the streets and a few I felt a prayer burden for. This often happens to me when I go out—as there are people I silently pray for, even if I never talk to them.
Eventually, I felt God leading me to a coffeeshop that I had been in a few times before. I can’t say I was surprised by the leading to the coffee shop, but when I went in it was pretty quiet. There were very few customers that afternoon, and in my natural mind, I wondered if it made sense to buy a drink and sit down there. Yet I heard the Lord say, “Stay here,” so I did.
After sharing some simple talk with the baristas, I got my drink and then felt the Lord highlight the soft chair in the back. As I walked back there, I saw a man sitting nearby. Upon sitting, I began talking to him with a simple greeting.
He seemed surprised that I talked to him, but responded in a friendly manner. I asked him about his hobbies as I thought he may ski, but he did not. He asked about my nationality which was kind of a surprising question. We talked about different nationalities of people as he was well traveled and had a lot of interesting things to share with me about different people groups in the world. He had a fun, positive personality and it was an enjoyable conversation.
Eventually, he asked me about my occupation and I shared about the Mission2Mobilize ministry that my wife and I had started the previous year. That led to a long spiritual discussion where we talked a lot about different world religions.
The question of faith and works and judgment came up at one point, and I shared how as Christians, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ and righteous only through Christ. We can never do enough good works to save ourselves. Yet our works done as Christians demonstrate our faith and we will be rewarded for our good works someday.
This man had a more pluralistic religious worldview where he thought all religions ultimately would lead to a person to heaven. At one point, I was given an opportunity to share the gospel using the 3 circles method as well which seemed to intrigue him.
He was curious what I thought of other religions and seemed to keep coming around to that in our discussion. We both acknowledged that there were genuinely nice people in many different religions. My question for him with regards to other religions was, “How can they be righteous before God?” I did not deny the fact they may have good works or even spiritual experiences. But the righteousness question is where I focused. I explained how by definition as a Christian, we believe that people can only be made righteous through Christ.
Sometimes discussions like this can get heated, but in this case we were both cordial and respectful of one another, even smiling as we talked.
Towards the end of the conversation, he made the comment to me about how I was “sent to him as a messenger” that day. I shared how I hadn’t even planned to come to the area but was redirected by God on the highway. He was blessed and welcomed my prayer for him before I left. We exchanged contact information and as I walked out of the coffee shop, I realized that over an hour had passed.
What can I conclude from a story like this? Certainly it is worth it to follow the Holy Spirit, even when God’s guidance is different than what you planned on or doesn’t really make sense. But also, I am reminded that when we share the truth in love, it leaves a mark on people. Some would say the Christian perspective that “Jesus is the only way” is narrow minded and disrespectful of other religions. But if we truly believe that it is the Gospel, the GOOD NEWS, (which I do), it is an invitation to eternal life for people. It is an invitation to the path of righteousness. Even if they can’t fully articulate it, they are thankful!
Our job is just to plant truth in love. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts. Jesus shares about this with His disciples. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned (John 16:8-11).
Welcome to Mission2Mobilize! 
Leave a comment