1. This is an intentionally consciously spiritual event. It expresses the faith that Jesus wants to go where we are (v1); it is about his Presence. And it is done in an attitude of prayer (v2). It is done with the intention of establishing a sense of the Sacramental. You are the sacrament.
3. Aim to be a blessing. "First say 'Peace be to this house'". Aim to give a blessing; to leave the "fragrance of Jesus" when you have gone. Don't be the sort of person who, when you've gone, someone is desperate to open the windows: I'm not talking about BO. I'm talking about behaviour. Is there something you can do in a given situation that will bless others in that situation? If it's a prayer thing as I have already suggested, then the Lord will point out the thing to do. But here are some suggestions for what Jim Henderson calls "Ordinary Attempts" to share Jesus with people by blessing them, by being good news...
b. Notice people. Simply holding the door open for someone. Treat bus drivers, shop girls and so-on as real people, who are not just there to help you.
c. Acts of kindness. Visit someone in hospital; send a card for a birthday; Drop in a cake to a neighbour... Nettie Thomson tells me her husband wooed her with sweets when she was a bus conductress and he was a passenger. Try keeping a bottle of water and a few sweets in your car and offering them when you meet someone who might benefit.
d. Ask how you can help?
e. Pray for someone "behind their back" and tell them when you have the opportunity.
This is really nothing out of the ordinary. It is what some of us already do as a matter of course. It is what some others can forget to do because we get too busy. But it is the sort of lifestyle difference, that makes people curious about what makes us tick.
Individuals who habitually bless other people are more likely to be effective evangelists. Did you know that we are best at sharing our faith in the first year or two after we become Christians? The longer we follow Jesus, the less effective we are. When you are a new Christian, there is an immediate change of some sort: you feel you've discovered something. Here are simple ways of refreshing that sense of "difference", ways of making people who know you curious about what's going on inside.
You may not lead every person you bless to faith in Christ. But you increase the possibilities; you break down the barrier of weirdness, and you may be a link in the chain. There have been people who have come to faith, as a direct and immediate result of one simple act of kindness, though...
Churches, likewise, that habitually bless others in their neighbourhood, are more effective in reaching out with the good news of Jesus. Pam & I visited Leven on Monday, to see their centre, which has been open abut ten years. Several hundred people pass through the centre each week: mums and toddlers, playgroup, latchkey kids' club, outreaches to the homeless... and the church has gone from being slowly declining, to being so full they have had to make the platform smaller in order to squeeze extra seating in. about thirty people are members or regular church attenders today, because directly of the "Blessing" ministry of the centre.
4. Blessing and the supernatural. Doing good isn't a substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. It isn't a substitute for stepping out in faith to pray for God's healing for people who don't know Jesus. It isn't a substitute for praying for people who don't know Jesus. The power of the Spirit and these "Ordinary Acts" of blessing go hand in hand.
Roy Laurence tells of young nurse told to monitor a man in a coma on life support. She noticed that he hadn't received proper personal care. His face was grubby, his hair matted, and so on. So she got warm water and washed the man's face, took her own comb and combed the man's hair. When she was finished, he opened his eyes, and said "thank-you". Amazingly he then went on to make full recovery. The power of care.
5. Say something - eventually. Doing good deeds isn't a substitute for speaking out. The "peace" was to be spoken. The Good news that "The Kingdom of God has come near" is something that needs to be said. But be natural about it; don't force it. Await the opportunity. It will come. Kindness and genuine interest in people builds relationships and out of theses relationships, conversations will develop. And don't give a pre-packaged speech you have learned off by heart. It may be just a bit of your own story; to be able to say "Jesus has helped me get through," or to assure someone that God really loves them. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would tell us what to say: we need to be asking Him to speak through us, though. Be natural and have fun.
6. A healthy realism. This idea of "Blessing people" isn't a panacea, a guaranteed method of getting results every time. Like the seventy, even like the twelve, there will be situations where what we have to offer will not be welcomed; some people will not even want to be practically helped. A Church in the USA had a team that went out offering to clean the toilets in shops. One woman was so taken aback by this offer that she threatened to call the cops!
Talk to the Lord about people's resistance to him. Ask God to help you understand the other person. Let him show you if you were insensitive in the way you offered help. The time may come when you know that a group of people are simply "not going to receive you" - when they are standing shoulder to shoulder resisting everything you want to do to bless them. There is a time to walk away and God will show you when that time is. Generally, though, we do friendship evangelism based on building real, lasting friendships.
Being a blessing isn't an instantaneous cure. But it is a way of getting involved, a way of opening doors; it is something we can all do. I'm not going to guilt-trip you into sharing your faith. Most of us have been guilt-tripped for so long it no longer has any effect! For most of us, if we felt we could, we would hare our faith. Here is something we can do.
© Gilmour Lilly September 2010
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