What’s going on everyone!! Man, it’s only Tuesday, and God has been wrecking me about being relatable. I know we all love the thought of having a microphone and preaching about Jesus to the masses (I know I do), but often times, ministry is behind the scenes, sitting across from someone else and talking about life. Not necessarily talking about anything to do with faith, but everything to do with relatable topics.
Every conversation that we have with people doesn’t have to even involve Jesus, or even faith for that matter. Scripture doesn’t even tell us that people know we are Christians by how much of the Bible we can hit them with. It says that people will know we are His by the love we show to one another (John 13:35). It is very difficult to balance because we don’t need to enable being lost, but we do need to meet people where they are and genuinely let them know they have someone in their corner.
I love having conversations with people and telling them that I’m not religious. It throws them for a loop because when normally, when people hear “Christian”, they hear someone who’s religious that doesn’t like to do anything but meditate on the Bible. Life is so much more than that. We are tasked to enjoy God and to live life to the fullest. An old pastor once said that, “we cannot be so spiritual, that we become no earthly good”. This quote still lives in me to this day because it challenges me to not just talk about how amazing Jesus. People will be drawn to us because of the light inside. We are, “the light of the world–like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). This means we have something in us, The Holy Spirit and the Good News of the gospel, that assists us in our walk with others as well.
Ministry really is waking up early in the morning to go spend time with someone different than you, hiking a mountain. Ministry is meeting up with someone to go play basketball or to go to eat with. Preaching to people is only a small fraction of the life we’re supposed to live. Diving into real life with people serves a major purpose to help people see that Jesus isn’t some feel good myth, but an actual person to have a relationship with. I challenge us all to take time to spend with someone outside of our faith and be genuinely interested in doing life with them. Be the light of Christ to them and live life.
Much Love,
Ryan W.
