Rejoice In God’s Glory
In August of this year I was given the opportunity to be part of a team sharing the gospel in Portland. I’d like to share a brief story and something God spoke to me about while on the trip. The focus of our time was “hitting the streets” and just striking up conversations with people about Jesus. Throughout the week we faced rejection, many people were very polite in declining a conversation or expressing their lack of interest in discussing God, and others were more direct. Personally, most people were pretty kind to me, even if they didn’t care to have a conversation or continue a conversation beyond the gospel. On our third day, I faced a lot more rejection personally than I had thus far. It began to feel like no one wanted to talk to me. Even as conversations would begin, they would quickly end. It may have been they were in a hurry, for some as I shared they stopped me and said they had tried religion and weren’t interested in talking anymore, and some people weren’t interested in starting the conversation at all. Certainly I can understand, we’re interrupting their day, their plans, and if I were them, I wouldn’t care to have a deep conversation with a stranger either. However, this is a matter of eternal importance. It’s the very purpose of our existence that we are discussing. But I get it, that’s a lot for the corner of 10th Avenue and Everett.
As the rejection continued I began to feel down, insecurity settled in and I felt pretty defeated. It was a weird mixed bag of emotions. As I was personally having this undercurrent of negative emotions, there was also a man who received Christ after hearing the gospel from a member of our team. Actually right there at the aforementioned corner. His response to the question of if he’d like to make that decision right now was, “Well I don’t see why not!” That’s the thing, if you see the gospel for what it is, you know - YES! I want that! Not only that, there were two more salvations that day and specific prayers answered! There was so much to rejoice in, and yet, I felt weird. I knew I could rejoice because God was glorified - there was fruit! People had come to know Him! Prayers had been answered! Still I felt personally weird. What God later helped me see was that I had allowed the circumstances to control my feelings. It’s okay to be a person and have emotions, but those emotions need to be filtered by truth. I had allowed the rejection to cause me to be discouraged which made room for insecurity and defeat. What I needed to see was that God is glorified in our obedience. Certainly He is glorified in fruit, and it’s so beautiful that in the body of Christ we get to see fruit even if we’re not the ones harvesting. It was so sweet that in our brief time in Portland we were able to see people come to know Christ. It was also sweet that we were able to share Christ with people who wanted to continue considering. God reminded me that He is glorified in our obedience. God is teaching me to trust Him with my obedience, that He can provide the conversations and opportunities. I need to be obedient to be in the field, seeking opportunities, but I don’t have to be disheartened when the conversations don’t go the way I expect, I can trust Him. God is the one who gives the increase. We are faithful to plant, water, and trust Him to give the increase. I’m thankful for this lesson that God taught me in focusing on His glory and obedience to Him and to continue applying that.
