Ahoy, there, Comrad!

One aspect of motherhood that I really, really appreciate, is the community that comes with it.  I'm only just beginning to tap into it, but there's something really special about having taken on a responsibility that necessarily involves giving of yourself and putting others first, which so many others are doing alongside me!  There's such a unique comradery among people who share a similar passion, struggle, delight, and while I know there are circumstances that produce this effect much more acutely than motherhood, it's something that I have come to truly appreciate. 

I was thinking about this this morning, and thanking God for the other moms in my life who support me and encourage me, when it occurred to me that the Christian life ought to be like that too.  If I've taken up my cross and so have you, we ought to delight in each other's company and fall naturally and often into conversation about the joys and struggles of following Christ on this earth, right?  (the way moms spend so much time talking about their kids)  Something to ponder...

And I wonder about the comradery in heaven.

He didn't say "might"

"Come, follow Me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."  Matthew 4:19

How Would Jesus Speak to a Peruvian?

How do you attempt to evangelize someone who has been taught from infancy to worship and serve multiple false gods?  Religion seems to affect so many areas of life for the typical Peruvian, for to them, their very livelihood depends on their ability to satisfy various deities with offerings of service and goods.  How do we go about conveying to them that all of this is empty and wrong?  It feels impossible.

I was encouraged this morning, by my reading in John chapter 4, and an article by John Piper, "God Seeks People to Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."

In John 4, Jesus is traveling through Samaria, a land of people very hostile to Jews and with beliefs decidedly different from theirs (they even had their own version of the Pentateuch).  He merely sat down at a well and asked a woman for help getting water, and from there, opportunity arose to not only share the gospel with her, but with many in the village.

I'm encouraged by the way that God used a simple request for help to open up conversation that led to weightier matters here.  Jesus often preached to large crowds, sharing the gospel in a way that I really could never see myself duplicating, but in this instance, the gospel went forth in a very unassuming way.

Jesus was obviously tuned in to her need from the very beginning of the interaction, and He did jump at the opportunity to help her.  And when it came down to it, He flat out told her that her beliefs were wrong!  As Piper put it, "When all our efforts to be gentle and sensitive and respectful of another person's religion are done, the time eventually comes when you have to say: Biblical worship is true worship and yours is false... [The Samaritan's] knowledge of God was deficient and so their worship was deficient.  And to tell them so was as loving as telling a person with lung cancer to stop smoking."

I am thankful for the reminder that God uses mundane interactions to establish relationships that point others to Christ, and that it is OK and even fruitful to lovingly point out error in another's beliefs and practices.  As Derek and I go to Cusco, we carry with us this same Christ who spoke boldly to the Samaritan woman, and like He did in John 4, we go to a people unknowingly engaged in false worship.  I pray for the boldness to sow seeds of truth as Christ did, and for faith to see the Spirit at work - whether it be in planting seeds or reaping a harvest.