Of all the great benefits of Facebook, I have to believe that one of the best is that it gives us just a tiny glimpse of what Heaven will be like. Just this week - through Facebook - I experienced one of those glimpses.
I'll start at the beginning. I committed my life to Christ when I was in the fifth grade. Although the actual moment of my repentance and salvation I remember vividly, I don't remember many details after that. One experience, however, came to my mind just a couple of years ago when I was doing a Beth Moore study. I was to chart my life and name significant spiritual events that God used to shape my life. As I was doing this and reflecting back on the early years of my faith, God brought to mind one particular Wednesday night. I had brought a friend to church with me, and at some point, she and I were in the sanctuary by ourselves, and I shared Christ with her. I don't remember what motivated me, I don't remember exactly what I said, and I don't remember her response. All I remember is that I shared. A year later, she and her family moved, and I hadn't been in touch with her since.
Fast forward almost twenty years, and I received a Facebook friend request from her. We caught up with a few emails and then, like most facebook friends, we keep up with one another by reading status updates. As time went on, I noticed that many of her status updates were of her faith: Bible verses, testimonies, her experience at her church. Eventually my curiosity got the best of me. I didn't recall her being raised in church, and I wanted to hear her testimony.
And she was glad to give it! Like me, she didn't recall many specifics of our conversation that night, but she shared that at that time she felt herself seeking God more and him seeking her. She started going to church with her landlords while she still lived in our hometown. Then a few years later, after she had moved from our hometown, she got involved in a church, was mentored by her youth pastor, and came to Christ in faith.
A couple of years ago, another significant event occured in her life. One day she was caring for her grandmother in the nursing home, and her grandmother, her grandmother's best friend, and her mom each came to faith in Christ.
Today she and her husband - who also wasn't raised in church - are raising their son in church and are faithful in following God.
How thrilled I was to read her testimony! But it also went beyond that for me. It served as a reminder that our being obedient to Christ in sharing him with others doesn't always produce the fruit that we will see right away. The point is that we are obedient. And the point is, it's not about me or what I do. It's about what God does. It's my job and privilege to obey; it's his job to bring the person to himself.
Which brings me back to Facebook and Heaven. If it hadn't been for Facebook, I probably wouldn't have known about my friend until our reunion in Heaven. I can only hope that throughout our lives we have been and will be obedient to Christ. And someday we'll get to meet again more people like my friend, whose lives God changed, in part because we were obedient. Obedient in sharing the gospel. Obedient to giving to ministries that send others to share the gospel. Obedient to the ultimate calling we have as Christians: to share the message of salvation through Christ Jesus.
Because we never know what seeds we're planting - or watering - and that God is causing to grow.
"I will trust and not be afraid."
I suppose every child deals with nighttime fears from time to time. My 3 1/2 year old has been relatively fear-free until very recently. One night he asked to go to the bathroom, and as we sat there lit only by a nightlight, he talked to me incessantly about random things. After about 5 minutes of this (and knowing that he had never gone number two at this time of the evening), I realized that there was more to this.
"Drew, do you really have to go to the bathroom, or do you not want to go to bed?" He replied honestly, "I don't want to go to bed. The bugs will come into my room and hurt me." My response was what I believe any mother's natural response would be. "Drew, the bugs won't hurt you. And they can't get into the house." "But the wasps will use their hands and pry the door open." Thus went the see-saw of words between Drew and me. He gave a reason for his fear. I responded with a logical answer.
That wasn't working.
Next I went to the next most natural thing. "Drew, God will protect you. He watches over you." Expecting this to calm him down, we went through a similar see-saw of words, even getting into theological questions an adult has trouble comprehending, much less explaining to a 3-year-old. Clearly, this wasn't working either.
Then I remembered what I did when I was a child of about 10 or 11 when I was scared. I quoted a verse my mom taught me in G.A.'s: "I will trust and not be afraid." (Isaiah 12:2) I'll try this, I thought. It can't hurt.
"Drew, I'm going to teach you a new Bible verse that I said when I was a little girl when I got scared." I had him repeat the phrase after me. After only saying the verse two times, he was calm and quiet. I kissed him goodnight, half expecting him to call for me again a little while later.
I didn't hear from him until the next morning.
Don't get me wrong. I believe in the power of God's word. But this was amazing even to me. The next night, he did the bathroom ritual all over again, this time being scared of the frogs. Having learned my lesson from the previous night - and halfway wanting to test this again to see if it "worked" - I skipped the logic and even skipped talking about God's protection and went straight to the same Scripture.
He was off to sleep in no time, his fears erased.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
Obviously this was a life lesson in parenting for me. Scripture is relevant and active in no matter the situation my children find themselves. And it's up to me to teach them Scripture - even at this young age - and how to apply it to their daily lives.
Yet, there is also a lesson for me as an adult. What fears am I facing? Jesus made it clear that we were not to fear but instead to trust in Him. (That doesn't mean our worst earthly fears won't come to pass; even most of Jesus' disciples - to whom he told not to fear - were eventually killed for their faith. Instead, it means that when we have trusted in Jesus for our eternal salvation, we ultimately have nothing to fear.)
But when we do find ourselves faced with fear, what do we do? Do we respond with logic? Do we respond with our own [possibly incorrect] understanding of God? Or do we go straight to Scripture? The latter will be the only infallible response.
Scripture is the inspired Word of God that is active today, even thousands of years after it was first penned. Even though I've seen it at work in my life time after time, it takes on even a new meaning when I see it work in my child's young life as well.
"Drew, do you really have to go to the bathroom, or do you not want to go to bed?" He replied honestly, "I don't want to go to bed. The bugs will come into my room and hurt me." My response was what I believe any mother's natural response would be. "Drew, the bugs won't hurt you. And they can't get into the house." "But the wasps will use their hands and pry the door open." Thus went the see-saw of words between Drew and me. He gave a reason for his fear. I responded with a logical answer.
That wasn't working.
Next I went to the next most natural thing. "Drew, God will protect you. He watches over you." Expecting this to calm him down, we went through a similar see-saw of words, even getting into theological questions an adult has trouble comprehending, much less explaining to a 3-year-old. Clearly, this wasn't working either.
Then I remembered what I did when I was a child of about 10 or 11 when I was scared. I quoted a verse my mom taught me in G.A.'s: "I will trust and not be afraid." (Isaiah 12:2) I'll try this, I thought. It can't hurt.
"Drew, I'm going to teach you a new Bible verse that I said when I was a little girl when I got scared." I had him repeat the phrase after me. After only saying the verse two times, he was calm and quiet. I kissed him goodnight, half expecting him to call for me again a little while later.
I didn't hear from him until the next morning.
Don't get me wrong. I believe in the power of God's word. But this was amazing even to me. The next night, he did the bathroom ritual all over again, this time being scared of the frogs. Having learned my lesson from the previous night - and halfway wanting to test this again to see if it "worked" - I skipped the logic and even skipped talking about God's protection and went straight to the same Scripture.
He was off to sleep in no time, his fears erased.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
Obviously this was a life lesson in parenting for me. Scripture is relevant and active in no matter the situation my children find themselves. And it's up to me to teach them Scripture - even at this young age - and how to apply it to their daily lives.
Yet, there is also a lesson for me as an adult. What fears am I facing? Jesus made it clear that we were not to fear but instead to trust in Him. (That doesn't mean our worst earthly fears won't come to pass; even most of Jesus' disciples - to whom he told not to fear - were eventually killed for their faith. Instead, it means that when we have trusted in Jesus for our eternal salvation, we ultimately have nothing to fear.)
But when we do find ourselves faced with fear, what do we do? Do we respond with logic? Do we respond with our own [possibly incorrect] understanding of God? Or do we go straight to Scripture? The latter will be the only infallible response.
Scripture is the inspired Word of God that is active today, even thousands of years after it was first penned. Even though I've seen it at work in my life time after time, it takes on even a new meaning when I see it work in my child's young life as well.
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