“But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven,” Matthew 10:33, KJV.
As I go along in life now, I try to be mindful of opportunities that God may present to me. Well, last Friday was no different. When I entered a nail salon on this particular day, I soon found myself talking to a lady who I was prompted to ask if she knew Jesus. She stated that she had and we even talked about God a little further. I thought to myself, wow that was easy…thank you, Lord.
Just a few moments later, I found myself sitting one seat over (as we got pedicures) from a different woman who was with her little five year old girl. (I know her age because she was telling someone that her daughter would be six soon.) Anyway, I was thinking to myself that I was supposed to be talking to the Korean gentleman doing my toes, but soon learned that I was there for this young woman who looked to be in her early thirties. I listened as she spoke to others wondering to myself where the open door of opportunity was for me to talk to her about Christ. And then I remembered, hey it’s Easter time!
“What are you doing for Easter?” I asked, or something to that effect. She replied, “Oh, we’re going to a Baptist church where my brother-in-law is a deacon.” I soon thought to myself wonderful. But something in me wasn’t satisfied with her response. I needed to know if she was going for herself or for someone else. She had explained to me that she was down south visiting from her home up north. Her husband is from South Carolina and she was in town to visit his family for the “holiday” weekend.
“So, what do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus?” I asked because she had talked so much about her husband’s family and what they did, I didn’t hear her say anything about herself. I considered the young, blonde-head impressionable little child she had with her and the influence she’d have on her life. Here she was concerned (at the age of five) about her nails while her mother wondered why she didn’t want a manicure along with her pedicure. The only thought regarding Easter was an egg hunt. This disturbs me and it’s not the child’s fault (Proverbs 22:6).
I went on to discuss Jesus with the mother who stated that she goes to church, but her church accepts all religions. They turn no one away (by the way neither do Christians), but the major difference is that we believe that Christ is the only way to God (John 14:6). She went on about Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians all being welcomed and that each book of religion is used in the church. I went on about how this cannot be because there would be a huge contradiction. She then talked about being raised as a Catholic and knowing what the Bible says and I told her if you knew what the Bible said then you would know better than to say what you’re saying.
Understand, I was not trying to argue with her, actually the conversation went on cordially and even-toned, but I was going to be firm in my faith. I went into examples from the Bible and practical applications of everyday life. God instilled in me 2 Timothy 1:7 and provided me with the boldness to speak to this stranger in confidence. Others around us remained quiet, but I was hoping that another Christian would stand up.
We must stand united, not just standby. I don’t blame anyone for not joining in on the discussion, but when eye contact is made and they nod in your favor, sometimes we must speak. I say this because as soon as we parted ways, that woman went to her next station to get her nails done and immediately started talking about what her church believes to another woman. She was not timid to share her false message, but sometimes we behave as if we are. She was too far away for me to carry on another rebuttal, but there were others in close proximity who could have spoken up. Maybe they weren’t Christians at all. Maybe not. Maybe they nodded because they saw my point of view, but didn’t really believe. Or maybe talking loudly about things that don’t pertain to God is more appealing. Clearly, I’m not trying to get people to act belligerent in public, but rather to stand in public boldly for what we declare in private.
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