Getting your hands dirty

"dealing with lost people will cause us to get our hands dirty and sweaty just like tending to yard work. Part of evangelism is to clear up misconceptions and misperceptions people have about the gospel. Dealing with people and evangelism is often messy."


The hardest part of evangelism is stepping out the door and onto the road, because you never know where it will lead. Every facet of our Christian walk is like planting a garden, not just evangelism. It was planned by God to be like that in the first place. It is hard enough to properly prepare the soil and the seedbed for planting. As Christians, we must make friends that are not Christians and we must live a life dedicated to Christ in front of them. We must plant our seed, water our seed, pull the weeds, keep animals and bugs away from the plants and patiently wait for the harvest. In evangelism, one plants, another waters and another reaps the harvest. I worked with a man once whose nephew is a minister. This man took every opportunity to point out all the little things he thought that his nephew and I did wrong. He then would immediately say we both were going to hell. Funny how he knew exactly what sin may or may not entail. He listened each day and would ask questions of us. He would then poked fun at our faith. This man definitely heard the gospel everyday in some way. Did he ever receive Jesus as savior? Not to my knowledge. A group of friends and I did prison ministry at one time. We would bring in pretty girls to sing in order to attract the prisoners to our voluntary event. My friends would preach and I would pray for the men. We ambushed them. Many times people wait until they have a crisis, like going to prison, to call on God. In the middle of an emotional event people make a decision to receive Christ. I ran into a high school friend at one of these prison events. He received salvation at the end and I had the privilege of praying with him. Often, this is when the initial seed is planted. Since there is seldom any follow up, the seed is never watered, fertilized or protected so that a real harvest can be reaped. Fortunately, the prisons have chaplains. We have to take advantage of these emotional events to show the love of God to those needing Christ. As McRaney said, “we want more than just decisions.” Decisions are not commitments. Commitments take spending time and effort with those that need Christ in their lives, so that when the next crisis comes along they will be better prepared to face it knowing they have God with them to overcome that crisis. I have tomato plants growing and producing tomatoes. If I did not plant tomatoes, I would not be able to enjoy my BLT sandwiches.