Sowing and Reaping

I was really struck by John 4:35-38 this morning during my quiet time. Take a second to read it. In it, Jesus talks about sewers and reapers. I think that there's a skewed view of sowing amongst Christians. Reaping is pretty obvious. I can go to church most Sundays and see reaping taking place, but sowing is harder to see, therefore it's easy to get confused about just what it is.

As I said, when I see someone come to church on a Sunday and accept Christ, that's a very visible example of reaping, so it's easy to think that sowing was someone inviting that person to church. But rarely will someone's first step to God be coming to church. I never see the person who holds the door for someone having a rough day or the person who treats the server like an actual person at lunch, or the friend who shows Christ's love by being a comforter to someone suffering or the family member who has been sharing the Gospel and inviting the person to church for five years only to have them finally go when someone else invites them. Sowing is almost always behind the scenes and it isn't confined to just talking about the Gospel.

And Jesus, in these verses, refers to the sower and the reaper as two different people. The Lord might not allow me to lead to Christ those that I share the Gospel with. Like on my trip, I got to talk about the Gospel with a bunch of people, and not one of them seemed remotely interested at the time, but the Lord might not be done with them yet and I might just be a step in the process. That's the beauty of the Church being a body. We each have different roles and gifts for reaching people. On our own, we might not be able to make any impact, but together we can change the world.

I guess the beauty of all of this is that the Lord even allows us to take part in this process. He didn't have to choose to let us be His method for reaching the world, but He did. He has entrusted us with the most important job in the universe and that's a big deal. And it's pretty awesome to think that even if I don't feel like I'm making a big impact by bringing people into the Kingdom in droves, I'm still playing a part if I'm just being obedient and loving people and sharing the Gospel with them.

A Stupid American Mindset

One thing that keeps standing out to me is that no matter where I go, people are all pretty much the same. Sure, there are different customs and cultures on the whole, but if you look at the individual you'll likely always find people going about their everyday business, talking to friends and family, getting pissed off when things don't go their way, and trying to figure out why they're here on the Earth (or vehemently ignoring that question altogether).

With this in mind, one of the American mindsets that's keeps bothering me is just how much American mindsets bother me. I can see Egyptians doing nonsensical things and think, "they need to hear about Jesus." But if I see Americans around me doing stupid things, I just get annoyed; especially if that person claims to be a Christian.

The only real difference I've seen between Egyptians and Americans is that one is a lost people who think they're going to Heaven because they're Muslim and another is a lost people who think they're going to Heaven because they go to church and said a prayer or got baptised. An honestly, if your focus is going to Heaven, you've missed the point anyway. So, instead of seeing this in my own people and sharing and showing the Gospel to them, it's easy to enter into a thought pattern sounding like, "I can't wait to get out of this place so I can start loving people for Jesus."

One of my favorite people I've met on my travels so far is an Egyptian named George. He's a college student with an absolutely amazing heart. When he graduates in a few weeks, he plans to do mission work. He's not moving to another part of the world, he's getting an apartment right in Cairo. I was taken aback many times and challenged many more time by this new friend of mine and his heart for his own people. He sees the pattern of darkness in Cairo and rather than try to escape it, he wants to spend his life right there spreading light on that city.

So I'm in a weird spot right now (which is where I seem to stay). I'm loving getting to see all of these amazing places, but the more I see all of these unbelievable things, the more my heart turns to my own country and my desire to see American turn to Jesus. I have no idea what my future holds. I've given up on the idea of having a huge revelation in which the Lord tells me what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. He has always revealed things to me one step at a time and until He starts doing it a different way, I'm going to assume that's what He'll continue doing. But, for the time being, I think my calling is to my own country. When I get home, I plan to stay there. (Of course, it's a big country, so "there" could still be just about anywhere.)