I've begun to learn the balance and standards of justifying certain aspects of life...
This sounds a bit weird to start a blog off.. I'll come back to that later.
I was talking to my mom about how there are people that are called to impact certain types of people. Those to reel in the people who know better, and are doing wrong. Then the people that help with the healing process of people that literally don't know better. The people that are saved and have fallen and then the people that have fallen, but literally never knew anything else to be better. Honestly, I think that everyone should be able to learn how to impact both types of people. But of course, there are some people that just somehow specializes with impacting a specific group.
Sometimes, I think that people forget that we are not here on this earth to only impact a single group of people. At first, I was accustomed to think that we are only supposed to hang out with people that are like us. I think growing up, I thought that I should only have Christian friends. Then later, it turned into being, "I should help my Christian friends becoming stronger in Christ, or hang out with other Christian friends that help me to grow closer in my relationship with God. You know, Iron Sharpens Iron, right?"
I honestly, did not really know that way of thinking was a problem...until I took an Evangelism class this school year. At the end of the course, we were assigned to write a paper on an Evangelism encounter that we've had with someone. I sat there thinking about the assignment and thought... I don't have a single friend that is unsaved. In a way that is kind of good, I guess. Let's say, if they were once unsaved and I helped them come to Christ.
But that wasn't the case. The reason why I never had any friends that were unsaved is because I was never took the opportunity to befriend someone that wasn't saved. I've played sports with girls that were unsaved, but I never pursued a relationship with them. I kind of pulled away from people I "considered" to be bad influences.
I've noticed that people have even specified not to bring people that weren't saved or were of a certain level spiritually to private social gatherings. I don't really understand the significance of that. Especially when you say that it is important to take the opportunity that you can to witness. It's kind of like saying that you don't want anything to do with them at all. I've seen where people have looked at or talked about people that lived a certain way. I've done it before. But looking back and then seeing now how prominent it actually is, really hurts. If we limit ourselves to being only among people that are saved, how are we going to impact this world? God doesn't say "Sit in the church and wait for someone that is unsaved to come so you can minister to him" He says "Go into the world and minister the gospel to every creature".
In my evangelism class, we had to do research and write a paper on the methods of evangelism and which methods we thought were the most effective. I spent a couple of hours looking through the methods and came across friendship evangelism. Studies show that this is the most effective method. Its self explanatory, but its basically the process of being someone's friend and leading them to Christ in that process. It does take boldness... because sometimes you want to do the "cool" thing. But ultimately, when you take the time to know who someone is, what they believe, they are more inclined to do the same for you. Which opens the door for them to come to Christ.
It may take longer for someone to come to Christ, but your patience with them will go a long way.
I'm not saying that... a person needs to not have saved friends. Actually, it is really important for you to have friends that are there to help you grow stronger in Christ. It is actually more important for you to have more friends that are living for Christ, than those that are not. You need that form of positive influence to keep you growing so that you can be there for those that are not saved. I do feel as though that as a child, it is important for the social aspect of things to be heavily controlled. I feel as though it depends on the influential level of the child. It's a discretion thing.
That's where the justifying things come in... your unsaved friends, don't have the same morals that you do. Sometimes even you have friends that are saved, but just don't know or understand better. You will feel like you're constantly monitoring what they say and do.. it does seem kind of odd, especially when people look at it from the outside... "why are they friends with that person?" For me, I know people think that. I have to juggle between my fb making sure languages are positive.. but in the end, I'm taking the initiative to get past that barrier with others. To lead them in the right direction.. to open the door for them to feel free to confide in me, but also take heed for the advice that I give. It is definitely tough, because I do have to make sure that I'm constantly being fed with positivity. But in the end, seeing that someone is closer to God now than what they were before, because I allowed God to use me, makes everything worth it.
A person would rarely take the advice of a total stranger. It comes off rude if you barely know someone and you just up and tell them that they need to get better. Or that they're going to suffer if they don't change their ways. If you take time to get to know who they are, you begin to see why they are that way. Once they are comfortable enough to share with you, they are willing to take heed of the things that you say to them. It does take time, but they do get better. Let God use you as a vessel. Continue to get people to help you grow... but also be that person to help someone else grow.
I think that's all my thoughts in a nutshell. I could go on, but its getting late.
-Quayla
This sounds a bit weird to start a blog off.. I'll come back to that later.
I was talking to my mom about how there are people that are called to impact certain types of people. Those to reel in the people who know better, and are doing wrong. Then the people that help with the healing process of people that literally don't know better. The people that are saved and have fallen and then the people that have fallen, but literally never knew anything else to be better. Honestly, I think that everyone should be able to learn how to impact both types of people. But of course, there are some people that just somehow specializes with impacting a specific group.
Sometimes, I think that people forget that we are not here on this earth to only impact a single group of people. At first, I was accustomed to think that we are only supposed to hang out with people that are like us. I think growing up, I thought that I should only have Christian friends. Then later, it turned into being, "I should help my Christian friends becoming stronger in Christ, or hang out with other Christian friends that help me to grow closer in my relationship with God. You know, Iron Sharpens Iron, right?"
I honestly, did not really know that way of thinking was a problem...until I took an Evangelism class this school year. At the end of the course, we were assigned to write a paper on an Evangelism encounter that we've had with someone. I sat there thinking about the assignment and thought... I don't have a single friend that is unsaved. In a way that is kind of good, I guess. Let's say, if they were once unsaved and I helped them come to Christ.
But that wasn't the case. The reason why I never had any friends that were unsaved is because I was never took the opportunity to befriend someone that wasn't saved. I've played sports with girls that were unsaved, but I never pursued a relationship with them. I kind of pulled away from people I "considered" to be bad influences.
I've noticed that people have even specified not to bring people that weren't saved or were of a certain level spiritually to private social gatherings. I don't really understand the significance of that. Especially when you say that it is important to take the opportunity that you can to witness. It's kind of like saying that you don't want anything to do with them at all. I've seen where people have looked at or talked about people that lived a certain way. I've done it before. But looking back and then seeing now how prominent it actually is, really hurts. If we limit ourselves to being only among people that are saved, how are we going to impact this world? God doesn't say "Sit in the church and wait for someone that is unsaved to come so you can minister to him" He says "Go into the world and minister the gospel to every creature".
In my evangelism class, we had to do research and write a paper on the methods of evangelism and which methods we thought were the most effective. I spent a couple of hours looking through the methods and came across friendship evangelism. Studies show that this is the most effective method. Its self explanatory, but its basically the process of being someone's friend and leading them to Christ in that process. It does take boldness... because sometimes you want to do the "cool" thing. But ultimately, when you take the time to know who someone is, what they believe, they are more inclined to do the same for you. Which opens the door for them to come to Christ.
It may take longer for someone to come to Christ, but your patience with them will go a long way.
I'm not saying that... a person needs to not have saved friends. Actually, it is really important for you to have friends that are there to help you grow stronger in Christ. It is actually more important for you to have more friends that are living for Christ, than those that are not. You need that form of positive influence to keep you growing so that you can be there for those that are not saved. I do feel as though that as a child, it is important for the social aspect of things to be heavily controlled. I feel as though it depends on the influential level of the child. It's a discretion thing.
That's where the justifying things come in... your unsaved friends, don't have the same morals that you do. Sometimes even you have friends that are saved, but just don't know or understand better. You will feel like you're constantly monitoring what they say and do.. it does seem kind of odd, especially when people look at it from the outside... "why are they friends with that person?" For me, I know people think that. I have to juggle between my fb making sure languages are positive.. but in the end, I'm taking the initiative to get past that barrier with others. To lead them in the right direction.. to open the door for them to feel free to confide in me, but also take heed for the advice that I give. It is definitely tough, because I do have to make sure that I'm constantly being fed with positivity. But in the end, seeing that someone is closer to God now than what they were before, because I allowed God to use me, makes everything worth it.
A person would rarely take the advice of a total stranger. It comes off rude if you barely know someone and you just up and tell them that they need to get better. Or that they're going to suffer if they don't change their ways. If you take time to get to know who they are, you begin to see why they are that way. Once they are comfortable enough to share with you, they are willing to take heed of the things that you say to them. It does take time, but they do get better. Let God use you as a vessel. Continue to get people to help you grow... but also be that person to help someone else grow.
I think that's all my thoughts in a nutshell. I could go on, but its getting late.
-Quayla
No comments:
Post a Comment