M o n t r e a l 2 0 0 6

Robert!

A couple of us took a break from job hunting this afternoon to go to the Concordia University campus for sharing the gospel. Jessica and I met a guy from Africa, named Robert, and had a really amazing conversation with him!

Robert was so open and honest, and we talked with him for a long time. He had grown up going to church, but in recent years had become busy with other things but tried to go sometimes. He knew that “Jesus is our Saviour” but when I asked him if he himself was “saved”, he said probably not, because he didn’t go to church enough and did too many things that he knew he shouldn’t – and when he’d been out drinking and partying on Saturday night, he couldn’t go to church in the morning as if nothing happened the night before. He said that the Bible was confusing and hard to live up to, and that he wasn’t ready to leave his “fun life” behind to follow God… but in maybe 4 or 5 years when he’s ready to settle down, get married, have kids… then he would follow Jesus and be saved. He also mentioned that he feared that he would make a decision to follow God that he couldn’t follow through on, so wanted to wait until he was ready to make a real commitment, like in marriage. We shared with him that God is not about church, nor about being a good person, but about having a personal relationship with God, and He has made these promises to us in the Bible.

“For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

and “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

What a promise! And what love! That it was BECAUSE of the very fact that we are not perfect and are unable to be perfect by our own efforts that Jesus chose to die in place of us for our sins. If we wait and look for the moment that we are perfect, for life circumstances to be “just right” or until we are able to know we are able in our own strength to make a decision that lasts, we would never be able to come to know God. But in faith we can know that God can, does, and always will give us HIS strength so that we can follow Him for a lifetime when we choose to commit our lives to Him.

It’s so awesome to see how God has been working in Robert’s heart for so long now, and how although he is still seeking to know God and be right with Him one day. Do keep Robert in prayer that he would continue to reflect on the things he has heard maybe for the first time today, and that he would really come to understand that God loves us deeply and wants to have a personal relationship with us… without us first having to have a clean slate. Pray that he would also come to know not only in his head that God isn’t a kill-joy! Committing ourselves to Him isn’t to give up the good things in our life – it is actually allowing us to experience the greatest things that God has in store for us. And I think Robert knows that, because he sincerely plans to follow God later in life… but he would be missing out on so much between then and now. Pray that Robert would come to understand this, and for the courage to take the step of faith (and it IS a big step!) to turn towards what he knows deep down is what is important to him and what his heart really desires. Join me in committing to praying for him unceasingly!

posted by Rainbow Choi =) @ 8:29 PM