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The Motivating Factor

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When I was a young boy growing up in Argentina, I met a fabulous woman missionary named Theda Krieger. Theda was a single woman who directly and indirectly taught me and my 5 sisters how to win scores of people to Jesus Christ.

Through the years, it is said she and another missionary partner planted over 120 churches in Argentina. 120! They did this by connecting with children in neighborhoods and putting on Vacation Bible Schools. Through the children, they would get to know the parents.

Eventually, whole families were converted and began to attend church. Even though Theda, an American from South Dakota, is now in her 90s, she’s still serving the Lord in my home country.

Whenever I think about missionaries, it brings me back to the basic evangelism question: Why do we do what we do? We need to know the answer, so that our motivation is in line with what the Bible teaches.

Second Corinthians 5:12 says, “Christ’s love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all.” We share the Good News because we know and love God through Jesus Christ, that’s why. It is so thrilling that we want everybody to know Him!

Theda Krieger’s love for Christ gives her the motivation to share the Good News. May Christ’s love also compel you and me to be faithful in reaching your world, wherever that may be, till our dying day. Are you committed?

A Changed Life

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I recently read a quote in a British magazine that said, “Conversion to Christ is a staggering event.” What a well-chosen word! Conversion really is staggering, if you think about it.

I remember as a boy I would sit in church listening to preachers quote 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creature. The old has passed away. The new has come.”

And I would wonder, They look the same on the outside, so where does the change take place?

Years later, I made a list of what changes when someone accepts Christ. Here are a just few ideas from that list: “Once I was lost, now I am found. Once I was blind, now I can see. Once I was dead, now I’m alive. Once I was a slave, now I am free. Once I was empty, now I’m a temple of God. Once I was in the darkness, now I’m in the light. Once I was guilty, now I’m forgiven.”

Isn’t that staggering to think of how God changes us? And that’s just the tip of the ice berg!

Why don’t you try coming up with your own list of what happened – Biblically as well as visibly – when you came to faith in Christ?

The next time you’re talking to someone about the Lord, you can share those changes in your own personal life. Many times the most powerful testimony is your own transformed life.

Giving the Call

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A few years ago I was speaking at an evangelism conference. A young British man came up to me and introduced himself as Rupert. He was a 31-year-old clergyman in the Church of England. Rupert said to me, “Mr. Palau, when I was 16 years old I went to the stadium in London to hear you preach. I had no idea what Christianity was about. But I was converted that night and my life has never been the same!”

Now, this young man of 31 is serving the Lord in ministry in England. How exhilarating it was to hear about Rupert’s decision to believe! Whenever I hear stories like that, I think of III John 4: “I have no greater joy than this, to see that my children are walking in the truth.”

There truly is nothing as exciting as when someone makes a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, especially when God uses you. So we need to remember to always give people a chance to respond to the Good News. You may sow the seed, but be sure to give the option of responding to Jesus Christ as well. Don’t just throw out the seed and hope for the best.

Part of the Good News is the call of Jesus Christ. I promise, you will receive no greater joy in your entire life than when you get to pray with a soul ready to accept Christ. Think of how many people are simply waiting for you to ask them the question! So, go ahead and ask!

A Valuable Lesson

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Bert and his wife, Colleen, have been missionaries in Peru for 56 years! They have had their own method of planting churches. They would go to a village in the mountains or on the coast, maybe along the river. They preached the Good News there for three or four nights and then went on to the next village.

Bert told me, “I think we learned one very valuable lesson: that our absence from those churches was as important as our presence.” They would come back in three months and the village would be up in arms about some theological issue. So they would find out what the problem was and give them the teaching they needed for that.

They didn’t stop anywhere for more than a month. They sowed the seeds and it worked. They might not have done things “by the book,” but God has worked tremendously through their efforts in Peru.

Sometimes our absence can make people realize God’s presence in us, and their need for Him. Jesus says in John chapter 12, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” Keep on shining the light of Christ even today. He will change people through you, in your presence and in your absence!