Day 19 – Relate

“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!”
1 Corinthians 9:19-21

His name was Chethan. He was a college student at Louisiana Tech University while I was a college pastor at a church nearby. Chethan was a Hindu student from Bangalore, India and was getting a Master’s in Electrical Engineering. For one of his seminars, He and his team converted a ’66 Mustang into a full-blown Electric Car. He was doing some side work for NASA. Needless to say, Chethan was pretty smart. Some of our students invited Chethan to be a part of our on-campus organization. As our relationship developed, we would often talk about the differences between America and India, Christianity and Hinduism, dating and arranged marriages.

Over a long period of time, with a lot of prayer and with students embracing him as their own, Chethan came to faith in Christ. I can still remember the day we baptized him. He gave personal testimony as to how he believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He died for our sins. He also spoke of how this decision will cost him everything: family, friends, his homeland – everything. As Chethan went under the water and came out, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as we cheered his commitment and his new life in Christ.

And it all began with a simple conversation.

Nowadays, it seems as though followers of Christ are overwhelmed with the idea of sharing their faith. Most people I talk with seem to feel as though they aren’t qualified, they don’t know enough scripture, or they don’t want to “push” their ideas on someone else. My general response to this is that we need to get a new perspective on what it means to share your faith. Sharing your faith is more than just sharing a Gospel presentation. It begins with a life that seeks to genuinely relate to those we come into contact with everyday. A simple smile; a friendly conversation; a listening ear; and most importantly, a heart that really cares about who this person is and what they are going through. While we may not be able to relate entirely with their experiences, we can easily relate to who they are as people and their need for unconditional love, unfettered friendship and unending commitment to their wellbeing.

As Paul encouraged the Corinthian church, he reminded them that his goal in life was to be a person who was able to relate to the basic needs of those far away from God. He didn’t do the things they did, but he sought to understand who they really were deep down inside and to discover how their story could possibly be intersecting with God’s story. It begins with genuinely caring for people and loving them right where they are, no matter where they are. God is the one who changes their hearts. Our role is to simply be there for them and to demonstrate to them the unconditional love of Jesus.

As you pray today, allow these prompters to fuel your time with God.

• Thank God for the people in your life who loved you when you were far away from God and who demonstrated Christ’s love to you.
• Thank God that He loves you just the way you are and loves you too much to leave you the way you are.
• Ask God for a renewed commitment to His mission of reaching a lost and dying world through His followers.
• Ask God to give you a genuine ability to come alongside those who are far away from Him.
• Ask God to open your eyes to the people in your circles of influence who need someone to relate to their lives, their hopes and their struggles.
• Ask God to place on your heart specific names of people far from Him with whom you can begin developing a genuine friendship with, and ask Him to provide you with opportunity to begin that process in the next couple of days.