There is a man that comes to my house every couple of weeks or so to chat with me. His name is Billy and he is a Jehova's Witness. The first time I met him was many months ago when I was having the tree in my front yard trimmed. I happened to be standing outside when he came by and we started small talking. I knew why he was there but I didn't mind chatting with him. He told me that he saw that I was busy and he asked if he could come back and talk with me at a better time.
There started this relationship I have with Billy. He is a very nice older man who is very personable and always respectful of my time. So I started to carry on conversations with him whenever he came. He likes to talk to me about verses in the bible and what they mean and how they apply to life. He avoids topics where he knows we will disagree for one reason or another, but I do not go out of my way to point those differences out.
Tonight, at our iGroup we were discussing loving people and the time that I spend with Billy. I asked the question, "how do we typically respond to Jehova's Witnesses or anyone else that wants to come to our door?" One of our friends, Dwayne, asked a very honest question. He asked, "how do you love someone that just comes to your door from time to time?" He also wondered what is the point of letting someone like this come to your door 17 times and letting them spend 15 hours of your life if you know you aren't going to change their mind and they are not going to change yours. I loved that question! The answer to how to love them is answered in the second part of the question. When Billy comes to my door I will invite him in, I will offer him something to drink and I will ask him about his family and his life. We talk about what he wants to talk about because I am not threatened by what he has to say. I am giving him the 15 hours of my life because my desire is to love him.
When an expert of the law asked Jesus in Mathew 22 what was the greatest commandment, Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."
If we are going to be effective as believers of God then we must truly embrace this idea. That loving people without agenda is paramount and that it is not our job to change minds, to win arguments or to feel like we need to push people to make decisions. We simply need to love people. The trick now is to figure out how to do that in the context of our purpose driven culture.
Perhaps for another post. Be encouraged, God is moving in Murrieta and He is using His people to make an impact in lives. I can't wait to see what's going to happen next!
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