"On our way out we encountered and older couple who both happened to be tour guides for the mission. He asked us what we learned and I responded that we were big babies. He then asked about if we knew when the cross became the official symbol of Christianity and proceeded to tell us the story of Constantine in 330 A.D. and the visions he had of the cross in his dreams. The guys life was interesting. We probably talked with him for a half an hour. He was Catholic and grew up in Rome right near the Vatican. He remembers sitting on the base of the statue Michelangelo had carved of Mary and Jesus before they placed it behind the bullet proof glass. Also he told of a story about the Monks who all their life were making beautiful copies of the Bible and in their lifetime they would hand copy a Bible. It went off in my spirit that it was a picture of every believer that we are writing the story of God with our lives and at the end it will be the beautiful picture of God's grace and a living letter read by all men. He also spoke of a time he was in Jerusalem after the six day war when a bomb went off by him and a priest he was with. If they would have been 20 seconds longer they would've been dead. Jess felt like she was with family and he reminded her of her grandpa Rudy. He was refreshingly blunt but definitely a Christian."
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians and told them that they were living letters. The Holy Spirit is writing the story of your life. You are known and read by everyone who comes in contact with you. God has written His Divine law of love on our hearts and in it He has a love letter to the world.
The couple we met last year left a lasting impact on us. They were genuine. They couldn't be someone else if they tried. They were also unapologetic. There are many people who would have walked away from a conversation with them offended. There was nothing politically correct about them. Their lives were open and bold.
We should be no less as Christians. Engaging, bold, open, honest and loving. When people leave our presence it should leave a lasting impact on them. They should feel as if value was added to their life from being with us. Not because we are so cool or wonderful. Not because we have interesting backgrounds. But because we genuinely love God and love people. That is a story worth telling and people will read it!
What does it mean to be genuine? How can we guard against insincere interaction with others?
What a great example and reminder. As for being genuine, perhaps a large part of being genuine is the degree to which you surrender your thoughts and your tongue to the Lord. Allowing Him to speak through you more and more and less of yourself, having confidence in Him. In my experience, I seem to sometime get in the way of letting God do His thing and it brings an insincere or wasteful interaction with someone that didn't mean anything. I will continue to chew on this in my spirit. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think you're right about yielding to the Lord. It takes the pressure off of you and allows you to lean on Him for those meaningful conversations and lasting impact.
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