My mother was a praying mother. In fact, I give her most of the credit for “praying me into the Kingdom of God”. My mother never hounded me or presented Christ to me in a way that turned me off from receiving Him. She never verbally said very much to me regarding God or His Word at all. She simply prayed and gave me a visual example of what living a Godly lifestyle looked like. For years, when it looked like I was going in every direction but a positive one, she never lost the hope of her children living for God.
Sometimes as Christians it’s difficult for us to know a truth, and not attempt to force others, particularly our loved one, to embrace the truth of God’s plan of salvation for our lives. We must come to the realization that God loves our loved ones even more than we do and that His desire to see the lost saved is even stronger than ours.I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building – 1 Corinthians 3:6-9
God loves those who are lost and He continually sends people across their paths that minister to them in different ways. Salvation is a process. Sometimes God will allow us to be the caboose in the “Salvation Train” and are privileged to see the fruit of His labor of love in the life of someone who was lost that sometimes was years in the making. But just because you aren’t the one that leads someone to Christ, don’t feel like the person is lost forever. Do your part…nurture the seed and then move on. Be careful not to do damage to the seed by hounding, preaching, trying to convince, insisting, or forcing “religion” down the throat of those around you which, because of our love for Christ and our zeal to see as many saved as possible, we’ve all done from time to time.
And as we go through life displaying Jesus to the world, every once in a while God will give us the privilege and opportunity to be the caboose on the end of the Salvation Train and lead someone to Christ. Take the time to rejoice and enjoy those opportunities. Then after a short time of rejoicing it’s All Aboard again and on to the next destination….
