Perseverance in evangelism

Today just like most days I was surrounded by non-Christians at school and work. A lot of the messages at church lately for the college age have been pushing evangelism. This is definitely an area I am and always will be trying to grow in. I think this is such an important calling on our lives as Christians because what better thing can we do for someone than to help lead them to Jesus to receive eternal life. I don't know about you, but it sure does bring me joy to even think about it.

That being said, I can sometimes (a lot of times) go into school and work with the mindset of constantly wanting to share the Gospel. This is a good thing and I'm extremely thankful for my lack of fear of man when it comes to my faith, but I also want to eer on the side of caution. I believe sometimes with evangelism it's important to not be extremely intentional and "shove Jesus down someones throat," but needs more intentional relationship including opening up your life to them and talking about the joy of Christ in you. Make friends with non-Christians, step out of comfort zones, go to events with them you'd normally not go to (raves are not suggested,) have lunch, learn about their family, invest your life into theirs. These are all ways to build close relationships so the Gospel can easily be brought up in conversations.

For me as an American, instant gratification is always a struggle to deal with. When I'm tired, I want to fall asleep right away. When I'm hungry, I want to eat right away. When I want a web page to load, I click refresh 20 times until it works. We desire things to happen right away. So, for me evangelism is extremely difficult. I expect every single conversation I have with a non-believer to end in "Wow, your Jesus sounds so amazing, can you bring me to your church?" When my conversations don't end that way, I can feel very discouraged and think it was something I said or didn't say. But, I was so incredibly blessed by these reminders from scripture today:

The Spirit's promise to help us:
Matthew 10:19 "Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour." 

Our call as believers:
 Matthew 9:37-38 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."   

God reminding us that we don't save, only He can save
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

It's so incredibly helpful for me to look back at my own experience with salvation. I never truly had a moment of clearly meeting Jesus or a time to raise my hand during ministry to accept Christ. It was a difficult path of God slowly breaking my hardened heart that required the patience of those I'm still thankful for to this day. No one shouted at me while handing out flyers about my sins and told me I was on a path to Hell. No, they loved me and pointed me to Christ and persevered through my stubbornness. I always think how I wish I had that great salvation story that made people's mouths drop. But, it's times like these I'm thankful for my story to point me back to Christ and the way he met me. It takes time, care, and love for people to warm up to the thought of coming to church. So Christians, Be encouraged. That one person that you've been reaching out to who has had no interest in the Gospel is the same person you once were. Pray for patience and for the Holy Spirit to give you the words to speak and to persevere.

"Out of 100 unsaved men, 1 might read the bible, but the other 99 will read the Christian." - D.L. Moody