As Chelsea walked into the hallway after class, she met with her friends Diane and Taylor as they walked towards the front of the science building. “Hey Chels, what do you have planned after today?”, asked Diane. “She probably has Bible study, she literally is always at church,” chuckled Taylor. Diane chuckled too as Chelsea shared a minute smile. “Well it is Wednesday so I do have Bible study and you both are welcome to come”, said Chelsea.
This moment is something that all believers will experience. For a split moment, you were normal, uniform to the people around until the thing that makes you odd or different is your faith. Chelsea makes a pivot that most would be apprehensive to do after being singled out – she invites them.
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul starts off by saying “This a letter from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News”(Romans 1:1). To be a slave of something is an identity, a type of bondage so it is interesting that he says that he is a slave of Christ Jesus. It’s obvious to see that Chelsea has a habit of being at church and fellowshipping with other believers, so much so that people who do not believe know that it’s a priority for her. Though the church is not God, the people who are a part of his kingdom, unbelievers see it as so meaning Diane may have not directly said so but she knows that Chelsea literally is always in God’s presence. After they reached the outside of the building, Taylor and Diane went to the dining hall while Chelsea headed back to their dorm. Chelsea is getting ready for Bible study when she receives a text from Diane. “Taylor has headed to her night class, can I tag along with you?,” it read.
After the Bible study was over, they went out for food before going back to their dorm. “So did you enjoy it?” pestered Chelsea. “Actually, I’m a little confused because that wasn’t the God I expected” said Diane. “I know I always teased you for going to church but it’s only because the God I knew was too holy for me,” said Diane. A lot of believers think that sharing the Gospel is always direct, meaning only telling people about God and His word. Here we see that through Chelsea just living her life as a follower of Christ, she is also ministering to her friend before the invitation was accepted. She saw how Chelsea was not ashamed of this Good News about Christ (Romans 1:16) despite the teasing and it raised the question ‘Who is this God that you meet with so frequently?’.
As they got back in the dorm, she asked “Same time next week?,” and they both chuckle. “I’ll see what I have planned but I’ll definitely let you know,” Diane said with a smile. As Chelsea got ready for bed, she immediately thanked God because she had been inviting her to Bible study for 6 months now. As believers, it is our purpose to spread the Gospel and make disciples but it doesn’t happen all at once. It takes wisdom for God to understand that we must be persistent and not think of people as ‘lost causes’. So, I challenge you to live according to God’s word and be vocal about it. The best evangelism is the showing and telling of Jesus Christ.
