It Might Just Be What You Did in a Split Second...

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. - Hebrews 10:36

A few years ago, I wasn't a believe, and I hadn't even heard about the gospel. I just move to a city in US to get a further degree. One day as I was walking across campus, someone stopped me: "Hey, would you like some free pizza?" Nothing special - I had seen plenty of Christian groups doing this on campus - free something in exchange for your contact info, and at that time, even though I didn't really like these groups, I had learned that they wouldn't abuse your contact info, or that they were at least not dangerous.

Unfortunately, pizza is not my thing (same as donuts, eggnogs, and all the "traditional American goodies"). So I told this guy, "Sorry, I don't eat pizza." But this guy was a little bit stubborn - instead of going for someone else that eats pizza, he went on and said, "How about a freeT -shirt?" Unfortunately, I only wore Victoria's Secret and a couple of other brands at that time. (Until now I still am not a big fan for freeT -shirts, unless it's something I feel representing for.) So I told him, "Sorry, I don't wear no-brand-name T-shirts." You would think that by now this person should have given up? Nope.
He went on to say, "How about a free pen?" "Uh, I get plenty of fancy pens and other office supplies free through my department. So nope, I don't want a free pen either." I bet that most of you would have felt humiliated/embarrassed (by the situation but not by the particular person) enough to just pull out a last smile and say, "Thank you! Have a good day!", and run off. But that was not what happened. This dude continued to say, "So, how can I get you to fill out this contact card?" I ended up saying, "Um, just ask nicely?" and filled out the card. Not sure that was the Holy Spirit pushing me or this dude's attitude pushing me.

Well, guess where this contact card ended up? A church that later became my home church. There were still a lot of "stubborn" people from the card to my salvation, people who prayed for me many many times before I even knew their names, people who tried many different ways to reach out to me and share the gospel with me. Now when I look back, I feel so grateful for this "stubborn dude", because I don't know how my life would be now if this "stubborn dude" gave up after the first couple of questions that day.

What I'm trying to say? Well, we all know that it's so hard to reach out to even just one person! It's so hard to share the gospel, even harder to yell fruit... We all have experienced some sort of humiliation or embarrassment while we were trying to do what God called us to do. OK, but are we still determined to give it our best shot every time we'd be called to do something? Are we going to give it a single shot and say, "Oops, too hard, let's go for someone else", or are we really going to pull out everything we have for each person God has put in our path to start a conversation with?

Is it worth the effort? What if none of the people we tried and tried will get saved because of what we spent so much time doing? I know many of you would say, "Oh, it is our willingness to serve that brings glory to the Lord, and we've done what He's given us. As to others, it is not up to us who gets saved by the end." True. But are we all able to not complain but truly see things this way during our out reach? I know at least I cannot. It's so much harder when I'm called to love someone who's not a believer, let alone to be called to love someone who would never become a believer!

Yet, remember that stubborn dude - because you will never know - it might just be what you did in a split second, that completely changed a life...