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.
