"Father, father! Guess what just happened!" I could barely contain my excitement as I breathed the prayer. I had just had an opportunity to talk to a coworker about Christ. Although it didn't go as far as I'd like, I felt I was still able to make in-roads with this man who was trying to do everything he could to politely refute my beliefs.
I was as giddy as a schoolgirl, telling God about my whole conversation, just like I would tell a friend about an exciting event. Then as I calmed a notch, I'm pretty sure God was chuckling at me. The obvious rushed over me, and if God were sitting beside me in human form, I'm sure he would have said, "Yeah, Jill, I know. I am the one who started that conversation, remember?"
A few months ago, as I was reading in the book of John, I saw another perspective of a familiar story. Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well (John 4) is one we can probably summarize by heart. But when I read this again, I saw something I hadn't seen before. After Jesus told the woman that he was the Christ, she went and told the people of her town about Jesus. Some became believers in him right then. And some went to see him themselves:
"They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world'" (John 4:42).
What was the responsibility of this woman? It was to tell people who Jesus was, period. Her responsibility wasn't to make them believe. Only after personally meeting and hearing Jesus did the people believe in him.
Sometimes it's easy to view our responsibility in evangelism like the President sending troops into battle. It's our job and we are to do it, and we report back our progress. But we don't serve a God who sends us into battle. He goes with us. He empowers us. He gives us the words to say. And HE wins the battle when he convicts hearts and draws people to him. Our job is only to be the vessel, being obedient to the call.
After my conversation with my coworker, I found myself pleading with God, "Father, work in his heart." And I'm sure God was thinking with a smile, "My child, I already have been."
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).
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