Opportunity Comes Knocking

Throughout the New Testament from the gospels to the letters written by the Apostle Paul we are told that we as Christians should serve others. As a deacon of my church I am committed to serving the members by ministering to their needs whenever possible.

Serving others and not just serving myself is something that has really been on my mind a lot lately. I want to help as many people in my life as I can. This is why I felt very badly when I couldn't help paint my son's new house because I wasn't physically able to do the work. It was a great way to show him a spirit of service but I have to look for other ways show him in the future.

However the opportunities to be a servant in several different ways have presented themselves to me over the last few weeks. This week I started writing a ventriloquist sketch I will be presenting when I do a voluntary performance at the town library on June 9. It's the kick off of their summer reading program and I'm humbled to be their "premier performer" as their flier says.

Another opportunity to serve will happen tomorrow in church. I will be singing a solo to start the morning worship service. I am excited about this because I am singing one of my favorite gospel songs. It's called "The Statue of Liberty." The lyrics compare the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of our freedom for Americans and The Cross as a symbol of freedom for Christians. I'm not the world's best singer but I know I can sing it from my heart. I'm just glad to be singing a song that means something to me and hope it does to the congregation as well.

The 3rd opportunity is two fold and involves the privilege of obeying Jesus' command to spread the gospel and being of service to my family. I am currently reading a book titled "Personal Evangelism and You" by Mark Dever (my new favorite author). The book talks about a Christian's responsibility to share the Gospel of Christ with others. It explores when, where, why and how they can do it. Two chances to share the gospel have happened in my life recently. They both involve members of my family. Sharing your faith with a family member is probably one of the more difficult aspects of personal evangelism.

Right now I have an on going correspondence with my cousin's son who is also, ironically, my God son. He's currently in prison in Pennsylvania and has become a Muslim during his time there. I haven't had the chance to totally share the gospel with him but I am doing my best to rebuild our relationship into one of trust and understanding so I can share the real Good News of Jesus Christ soon.

The other chance I've had to share the gospel with someone in my family is with my cousin who lives in Pennsylvania and is 6 months older than me. He and I were best friends growing up and have been close throughout our adult lives.

This past week I received an email from my cousin in which he shared with me that he has almost "no faith" any more and that there's nobody "up there" watching out for us. He also sighted the recent tragedy in the life of gospel singer Steven Curtis Chapman as a reason for the his belief that God does not exist.

His words gave me concern me for his sake. We were both raised in church and continued to go through our teenage and young adult years. As a matter of fact we both asked Christ into our hearts at summer camp when we were 11 years old.

Again the harshness of his words sparked a feeling of urgency for him. I knew I had to write something positive back in response to his negative remarks about God. However I knew the subtle approach I am using with his son would not work.

On Friday I wrote him a long and detailed email. It's probably the most difficult thing I've ever written in that I wanted to make sure I said the right thing. I prayed the night before that God would help me share the words my cousin needed to read so that he may be persuaded to consider looking for God again.

I spent the day yesterday researching and writing. I sent my message to him in an email late Friday night. I haven't gotten anything back from him yet. I'm not sure what he's going to write but I hope it's a positive response. If not I hope what I've shared with him will find root in his heart and or at least find a place in his memory. So that one day when he really needs to look for God again the Holy Spirit can lead him to remember my words. Perhaps then they will help lead him back to God. My prayer for my cousin is that God continues to work in his life and lead him back to the point of salvation.

So there you have the opportunities God has allowed to come my way recently. I am so happy that I have had my eyes open enough to recognize the chances to serve that God has set before me. My continued prayer is that they will keep coming and I will keep serving. If opportunity to be a servant for Christ knocks on my door I want to be there to answer.