I have discovered –and not with extreme acuity- that more times than not those Christ-followers whom have known about God all of their lives often become numb to certain issues in the area of discipleship. For example, there is no doubt that many, many, many of us take the great pleasure, opportunity, and mere ability to have a relationship with the creator of the universe for granted. There are many times where I witness my brothers and sisters in Christ as well as myself neglecting to keep Christ and service to him in the for-front of our minds. This is not an act of discipline however, for if we are indeed in a relationship with the Greatest Being, we ought to be completely fetish and in agape love. How backwards and terrible it is that so many of us are just so comfortable with the idea of God that He becomes limited to personal relationship. It was of course designed this way- persecution and avoidance there of being a major cause for objection to true discipleship, that being proclaiming the story of Christ. Even so, it is not canny by any means to think that this personal relationship would naturally spill out into actions, dominate motivation, and public proclamation at a primary level would become auto-enforced.
Recently I went on a vacation, and flew to my destination via airplane. As this situation puts one in the position where they are confined at a decent length in time, next to an unfamiliar subject, conversation is an obvious occurrence. In the first of my four flights, I sat next to family members so talking to a stranger –which can provide limitless depth of interaction-, was not relevant. However, on the final flight I was given the opportunity to get to know someone new.
As my family and I had missed several flights before we had been blessed to catch one by filling in empty seats momentarily. We were all tired but relieved- ready to get home and finally at peace knowing we would be there sooner than expected. I had settled into a random seat next to a man who was probably in his late fifties who was very friendly and began a conversation. This, along with his uppity activeness was evidence enough that we could have likely carried on a decent conversation. However, after having to end the present chat with the interruption of the safety precautions before take-off, we did not continue the conversation. As we took off, the plane quieted with it being evening. The man began to doze in and out. That was the best opportunity I had be given to be relaxed for the day and it was then that I realized it had been quite some time since I had last paused to focus my thoughts and surrender myself to Christ during the business of the day. My life purpose had been shamefully forgotten for quite some time and now here I had the perfect opportunity to tell about my Savior. In fact, this was the epitome of opportunities to witness: we are confined to our seats with nothing to do. However, terrible it had been that I had nearly gone through the day without even paying attention to my life role; the thing I felt with this realization was obligation. I didn’t want to have to strike conversation with the man. I just wanted to sit and mind my business. I had to prepare myself mentally for the thought of talking about something that is so avoided in our culture. For those I am around on a daily basis I can often only hope that my actions will eventually convey Christ, especially with those whom I literally live around. The opportunity to do nothing but just open my mouth without any prior engagements is rare. Of course my closer friends are used to hearing me talk about my relationship with Christ, but that is because I live among them. In this situation, I had to directly lay everything out on the table and likely wrestle with many questions and maybe scorn too.
This event was a very good example of how easy it is to forget what my role as a Christ-follower is. But even more so, it made me aware of where my relationship with Christ is. The prompting that it took for me to take in the situation and consider sharing the gospel not only wasted the time I had which was my opportunity to say something to the man before he fell asleep, but was also an indicator of the strength of my relationship with Christ. In times when I dwell upon the Lord during the day, the love of God is in the for-front of my mind and thus the more enthusiastic I am about sharing Christ’s love. However, rather than a warning to change my train of thought and my actions necessarily, I realized that I needed to renew my adoration with Christ; something which is a process. When I am fixed upon Christ, His love spills over and I become a tool for his ministry. This is the sort of adoration I long for. It pains me and puts me to shame to see that I have spent a season away from Agape love which pours out when merely dwelt upon.
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