Find the peaceful people

There’s a subtle mantra that underlies sharing Jesus. It goes something like, “If you love someone, you won’t stop trying until they trust in Jesus.”

Joy in Jesus is a gift worth sharing, and you’re love for others will produce sadness when they disregard the chance to share your joy. But more often this mantra bears guilt that you haven’t done enough.

• Enough sharing the gospel; “Do they understand my message?”
• Enough kindness and example; “Is my life attractive?”
• Enough prayer, fasting, etc. “Have I invested in intercession?”

However important communication, example and intercession, these are not your primary measure. These are all focused on your condition, but actually you’re looking for response from them.

Jesus regularly ended parables with the line, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” He anticipated that some would hear his parables and respond. Others would hear and respond for a moment, but later give up. And others would hear his words and not understand.

It’s okay to move on when there’s no response after you share a gospel story with a person. This doesn’t mean that their ears will be shut for all time, but it does mean that you’re not responsible to batter down the gates.

WOOLy people

When you’re deciding which people to pursue further conversation, three characteristics guide your decisions. For memory, these can be remembered in a simple acronym, WOOLy.

• W: Welcoming
• OO: Opening their Oikos
• L: Listening

TODO: Add story about Lydia and Luke 10

Practices To Try

• Write down a list of the people you see on a semi-regular basis. Your network. From that list, mark those with whom you’ve had some spiritual conversation. How did they respond? Select one person with whom you have not had a spiritual conversation and make a plan to share something about Jesus with them.