This might seem like something kind of obvious to most of you, but it really struck me today in a way that made me just think, "WOW."
I had just finished having a conversation with someone who basically found the transformation of a person having a life's background or upbringing in a certain way to then suddenly be radically devoted to a life of following Jesus as quite fascinating. They were basically asking the question, "What makes you 'people' drastically change as if you had never known anything else before in your life and be so extraordinarily devoted to it?" I guess that is my own paraphrasing of the question. This person really was desperately trying to figure out what that "thing" was and put the pieces of the puzzle together. From my perspective it is easy to see that the "thing" or "piece" is Jesus.
Let's think about this for a minute. We have a person, and this can really be any person, who has literally been raised in and grown into certain ways of thinking. They are so incredibly used to the traditions they've been taught, what is considered appropriate, the right ways of doing things, or just what is perceived as acceptable. They are content with themselves, their life, and the way they think things ought to be. There are millions of people out in the world who are apparently content with their lives, living according to what is right based on what seems good to them, whatever makes them happy, etc. There really doesn't seem to be anything missing in their lives. In a way it is basically religion according to the self!
I can certainly speak for myself when I say that most of the time, when I think about people being vulnerable to the Holy Spirit or at a place ready to receive the Lord into their lives, they have to be sensing that missing piece, feeling that empty void where the Holy Spirit should be in their lives. Well today the Lord totally rocked that little old idea of mine.
So going back to the conversation I was having, as soon as I walked away from that conversation some thoughts began popping into my head. The Lord basically made it clear to me that the way of thinking I just mentioned is completely wrong! Why? Because when a person experiences the power of the Holy Spirit, experiences the Truth of Jesus Christ there is no denying it. If they never felt a missing piece in their lives, if they never felt a void in their heart before, as soon as they encounter the power of the Holy Spirit and His truth, they WILL KNOW WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that Jesus Christ is what they NEED MORE THAN ANYTHING they've ever thought they needed before. If they didn't know He was missing in their lives before, they will seriously know it after. If they are made for Him, which they are, everything they've ever believed or thought to be true will look like nothing compared to the truth that is found in Him.
We don't need to wait for people to be "ready" to encounter Jesus. Let them see who He is in WHATEVER you do, because when they see Him, they'll see what they're missing.
