From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] June 21, 2005
An Eye-Opening Encounter by John Fischer Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell anyone who’s interested how you came to know Jesus. It’s all about a personal encounter. Once you know Christ you introduce Him to others through your own story. This notion that so many Christians and non-Christians have that our mission is to dazzle folks with how much better we are is not only ineffective, it is untrue. This is precisely the kind of wrong thinking that keeps people from telling their story. “Who am I to tell someone about Jesus,” the rationale goes, “when my own life is in such a mess?” The absurdity in this kind of thinking is the fact that no one, especially Christians, will ever have it all together in this life. The fact that we aren’t good enough should be the whole point of our message. We tell people about Jesus because we know, better than anyone, how much we need Him. When people throw our own inconsistencies up in front of our faces, that is just another opportunity to tell our own story of how Christ has forgiven us on the cross and how much we need His salvation every day. So instead of being a threat to our witness, our faults and shortcomings are the very things upon which our witness hangs. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need Jesus. When I think of the essence of our statement as Christians to those who haven’t come to know Christ yet, I always think of the blind man that Jesus healed by covering his eyes with mud and telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:1-34). When the religious leaders got wind of it, they started to question the man extensively—wanting to know who healed him, how it happened, where the man who healed him was now, and even asking his parents to verify whether their son was in fact born blind. When they came back to the man and pressed him with questions a second time, accusing Jesus of being a sinner for doing work on the Sabbath, the man replied, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner… But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see” (John 9:25 NLT)! That’s the essence of the message: “I was blind, and now I can see; I was lost and now I am found; I was guilty and now I’m forgiven; I was alone and now I have a friend.” It doesn’t take a perfect life to spread that message—just someone who has had an eye-opening encounter with the living Christ. Regardless of intellect, position, status or wealth, the message for everyone will come down to this: “I was blind, and now I can see.” John Fischer is the Senior Writer for Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published author and popular speaker. Click HERE to sign up for The Better Life, an e-newsletter brought to you by PurposeDrivenLife.com, with articles by Rick Warren and other insightful writers. To see a sample of The Better Life, click HERE. © 2005 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved. Miss out on one of the Daily Devotionals? View the online archives at: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/devarchive.aspx Have questions regarding the Daily Devotionals? Browse our Frequently Asked Questions at: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/absolutefm/afmtopics.asp ========================================================== THIS IS AN AUTOMATED MESSAGE PLEASE DO NOT REPLY ========================================================== You are receiving this daily email (Monday through Friday) because you requested a subscription to the Daily Devotional from PurposeDrivenLife.com. You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you wish to unsubscribe, click the following link: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/subscriptions/user-unsubscribe.aspx?s=1196279&l=1 To manage your online subscription, click the following link: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/subscriptions/ ________________________________________ PurposeDrivenLife.com a division of Purpose Driven Ministries 20 Empire Drive Lake Forest, CA 92630 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Mailing List Jesus-Net Ministry Indonesia - JNM - Daftar : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keluar : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Posting: [email protected] Bantuan Moderator : [EMAIL PROTECTED] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jesus-net/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
