Being A Part Of The Process

I have a couple of friends that are not Christians. I have prayed for them for years. I have talked to them about their spiritual condition. But at this point, they have not chosen to surrender their lives to Christ. And because of their choices, there are a couple of struggles that I experience. The first is the feeling that I have failed to reach them. The second is the temptation to continually pressure them to choose to accept Christ.

However, I am coming to realize that there comes a time when a person crosses the line between consideration of Christian and rejection of Christianity. And the responsibility of that rejection does not rest on me. It rests on my friends.

This is a really important point. Sometimes, we preachers, in an attempt to encourage our church to witness, lay a pretty heavy guilt trip on our people. We imply that some people will spend eternity separated from God and it will be our fault! Now, let me make this clear. While it is essential that we share our faith with others, (that's why I've spent three weeks on the subject), I think it is important that we remember this: If a person spends eternity without Christ it is because they intentionally rejected his offer of salvation and chose instead to live for themselves.

While they may blame a host of people for their rejection, the truth is, they made a decision and they are responsible for it. When we share our faith with others, we must remember that they are responsible for their decision.

Why is that important? We don't share our faith to absolve ourselves of feelings of guilt. There is very little true motivation in that. We share our faith because Christ has radically changed our lives, and we can't keep it to ourselves. The goal in sharing is not to "close the deal", but to be a part of the process of the Holy Spirit's working in the life of an individual. Or as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor."


The process is someone will plant, someone will water...but only God makes things grow! I don't know about you, but I want to be a part of the process.