You’re a missionary to your neighbors, and maybe God will use an earthquake to save them.
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were in Philippian lock down. They had been busted for illegally sharing the gospel, beaten with rods, and then thrown in jail.
In prison, they sang. They sang hymns and prayed to their faithful God. It probably hurt to sing. It probably hurt to breathe.
But the prisoners were listening, and so was the jailer. Two bloody-mouthed guys singing to Jesus in a jail cell. Unusual.
Then things started shaking. The ground rocked and reeled, iron bars snapped, and chains broke loose from the wall. Finally the world stopped falling and the jailer picked himself up off the ground. All the prison doors were open.
This meant death for the jailer. When prisoners escape, jailers die. And so the jailer prepared to take his own life.
Then he heard a voice calling out, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The prisoners were still there. All of them.
The earthquake did more than rip apart the jail. It ripped open the jailer’s heart. He knew that God was after him. “What must I do to be saved?”, he asked Paul and Silas.
Our neighbors are watching us too, and at some point, they will encounter a life earthquake. A terminal illness, or a car crash, or the death of a child. In those moments, I want to be able to introduce them to Jesus. I want to have lived in such a way that they come to me, knowing they’ll find both compassion and Jesus.
God uses all kinds of circumstances to draw people to himself. Let’s be ready to share the gospel with earthquake survivors.
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+photo by PhillipC
At least in my life, God’s use disasters more than anything else to snap me or someone else out of auto-pilot. A disaster puts needs in clear focus, so I know exactly how to best serve others.
Still, disasters hurt too much for me to remember how useful they are through God. So thank you for reminding me. I wonder what my next disaster will be…
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Marshall – Yep, God so often uses disasters to turn our attention to him and to snap us out of lethargy. That’s why I want to have compassion on those who are in the midst of disaster!
Just recently at my work a colleague of mine committed suicide. That shook us all up at work. For me i realized that I need to be spreading the gospel a lot more to my friends.
Wow, that’s really sad. It’s a sober reminder of the constant need to share the gospel.