A New Year's Resolution

So it’s January.  The start of a New Year; the start (and, unfortunately, often the end) of resolutions.

What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

A story from missionaries in another part of the world has made me consider a new kind of New Year’s Resolution....

For years these missionaries prayed for God to transform lives in their community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and for years, they saw little to no fruit.

Then, after 7 years, something changed.

A visiting leader of the mission asked his field-workers, "What happened?"

His colleague averted his eyes and mumbled, "We started sharing the Gospel."

"Excuse me?  What did you say?" the leader gently pressed.

"We started sharing the Gospel," the man repeated more clearly.  "We realized that the longer we knew people without sharing the story of Jesus, the less likely we were to share later."

With this realization, the missionaries made a ministry-changing, or rather a life-changing decision:  Within the first 10 minutes of any conversation, they would introduce God in some way.

They didn't start screaming on the street corners or handing out tracks to every person with whom they made eye contact.  Instead, as they lived their normal lives and had natural conversations in their community, they began talking more intentionally about God.  One might say, "I thank God for this beautiful day," or, "I'm sorry to hear you are sick; I’ll pray for you."

And suddenly, lives began to transform.

People saw God at work, and they invited Him into their lives.

The missionaries also found that the people they knew before altering their method of ministry disappeared; relationships they thought they were protecting by not sharing the Gospel were actually ruined. People in the community felt deceived by the missionaries, as if they were only a project.  Others scoffed and said, "If this Gospel message is so important, why did you not tell me sooner?"

Do you find this to be true in your own lives?  Do you find that the longer you know someone without talking about God, the less likely you are to bring Him into your conversations?

If we want to see our friends, our communities, our cities, and our countries transformed by Christ, we better start sharing the Gospel!  May this resolution - the habit of speaking quickly, openly, and boldly of Jesus - stick far beyond 2014.