Jacob's Well started our session with testimony sharing. God is good. Several testimonies were shared. From lost keys to handphones that could not be powered on despite multiple attempts, God answered our prayers. Lifting up the problems to God can be so natural for some people in the group, that it encourages the rest. There are no problems too small for God and it ties in with the topic we were on: “Erasing the lines”. We are mindful to give God the glory for obvious miracles and even things under the subtle influence of God.
This week we continued with the topic “Us and them”, the last part of “Erasing the Lines”. We have been on this chapter for a while, and the lines seem harder to erase than we thought. We starting with IS leading us to look at Luke 18, “ The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector”. The Pharisee distanced himself from the tax collector and displayed an air of superiority around him. He self-justified himself based on what he had done while Jesus, instead exalted the tax collector who humbled himself. Is there a line between the world and us? God wants us to be an influence to the world, to be the salt and light. But how are we going to do that if our hearts and motives are wrong as we draw a line between us and the world? God is love and he wants us to love people for who they are, believers and non believers. Are we able to serve and expect nothing in return? Is it possible that we subconsciously fall into the trap of making evangelising a project? As we serve, we need to keep checking our intention and motives.
B shared his experience when running Alpha that he used to be concerned about the number of people who came to receive Christ at the end as he used it to determine the ‘success rate’ of the Alpha. The end results used to matter to him more than the process. It was along the way that he learnt that we should use our lives to influence lives. The alpha can come to an end but the friendship continues. This is consistent with what Bill Johnson says: an agenda driven relationship can become controlling and cross the line into manipulation. We want to build authentic relationships with the people God sends our way.
We discussed the influence that a Christian has and how to assert that influence. Y highlighted the importance of having a renewed mind and the need to portray a good Christian image. When we are in the world, is there something different about us that the world sees and attracts them to wonder more about our belief? It can be the peace despite what is going on around us, it can be the joy we carry on our face in the midst of what is happening or it can be the love that we show even to people who are not believers yet. May we always be a people carrying the fragrance of the knowledge of God!
With that, we finally closed this chapter. Pray that as we spent the last few weeks to identify the various lines that exist in different aspects of our lives, God will help us to erase the lines completely so we can be effective minister of God. The lost do not need us, they need Christ.
Blessings,
Jacob's Well
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