JUST
BUTT
OUT!
Before we tackle this subject we must lay two pieces of ground work. Then we'll have a base to return to if confusion sets in.
First, we can't know other's thoughts. We may be able to read body language, non-verbal cures. We may be able to read voice inflection and intonation. We may be able to approximate what emotions are driving someone's communication. But we can't know another's thoughts. Those who are expert at concealing their true thoughts and deceive us at times are the proof that we can't know someone's thoughts. You just can't get inside another person's head.
Second, God is in charge of everyone's salvation. It is His salvation. Other "gods" may have their own particular brand of salvation, I guess, but the Christian God is the only one in charge of His salvation. God picks the person, as we read in Ephesians 1 verse 4. And do you notice when that choice was made? "Before the world was formed." That means that when God first created the "heavens and the earth", in Genesis 1:1, the choices had already been made. In fact, there are those who suggest that, indeed, God made the whole universe to accomplish His plan for the Earth (us). God also chooses the place and circumstances of beginning someone's journey on the Way, as first century Christians called the path to God. God has the final say-so when it comes to where a person is and his or her lifestyle. Here's the most important one for this discussio: God designates the time. When God thinks it's the right time in a person's life, He shines that little light, or sends that "still small voice." You can't name one element of a person's salvation that is anyone's responsibility but God's. As uncomfortable as it can be, God's the one who calls the shots.
Now I know that all of the above seems reasonable. And yet, there are multitudes of people that contradict themselves by their behavior towards others. Why some of them will even quote Ephesians while they try to "bring someone to the Lord." Listen! We don't dare judge and/or act on that judgment of where others might be on the Path. We daren't even judge if someone is ON the Path. We may even be right, at that time, but wrong ultimately. Remember that God says when a person is to "see" the light.
A good case in point is the thief on the cross next to Jesus the day of the Crucifixion. I've never heard anyone talk about what that thief's life might have been like prior to that day, but the evidence indicates that he wasn't very spiritually oriented. Let's put some flesh and blood on that thief. One didn't receive the sentence of death by crucifixion for pruning his toenails in public. Barabbas, whose place the people chose Jesus to take, was a murderer. True, the thief might not have hurt so many people as Hitler, but he was bad enough to be crucified. To get back to our inability to know the time of a person's call, we see in the thief that he lived his whole life save three hours without being shown the Light. I'm sure he had plenty of opportunity to turn to God. And I can plausibly speculate that he sneered at those who may have tried to "win him for God." Those folks should have used their time more profitably, while they waited for God to lead to understanding those whose time HAD come. Some people are going to make it at the last minute. And we can't know who those folks are. Any of those we think aren't on the path may fall on to it tomorrow, or next month. Did you look lost before you came to God? And possibly, to an outsider you may still look lost.
We have no certain way to tell about someone else. In fact, there may well come many times in Christians' lives when they're not even sure if they are making it. An upside to that is the indicated connection to God by our fear of being lost. He's still with us as long as we're worried about it. People who are truly lost don't care; or even think about it.
Given the above, that we can't know someone's thoughts, and that we cannot affect that person's salvation, let's move on the our main topic: initiation. I think initiation is a devil-inspired trap. Initiation can be seen as rebellion. God's the Boss. We're supposed to wait patiently and let Him call the shots. Anyone ever tell you that you were trying too hard? "Quit trying and it'll happen by itself." Initiation is characterized by trying. Trying to bring someone to the Lord is definitely in the box with initiation. If only God can save someone, what do we think we're doing when we grab people on the street or go banging on their doors? We're usurping God's role, and we're disobeying His command to wait.
As a sidebar let me tell you that I think God communicated to me twice in my life. Neither communication had to do with anyone else. They weren't a "word from the Lord for you." Interestingly enough, one of those times was a one-word statement. "Wait." Some big talk with God, huh? One word. "Wait." In subsequent years I've looked back at that time. I've often wondered exactly what I was to wait for, and if I did indeed wait.
Now we've raised a point of tension. We're to work and wait at the same time. Traditional Christianity has been taught to evangelize. Get the Word out. Save the lost souls. I must qualify that some denominations don't go around trying to drag people into their "fold." Those folks don't pray on street corners, either. But how do we do God's work without "winning souls for Jesus?" Perhaps we should use God's own ways of getting His word out. Almost exclusively, when someone who's time has come turns his head in the right direction, God just happens to be shining there.
God wrote His message of a Redeemer in the stars, but He didn't let a few of them rain down on people to get their attention. He wrote that same message in the Great Pyramid of Giza, but He hasn't gone on the Internet to advertise some travel tour to see the "Bible in Stone." God's not pushy, like people. Mostly when I see God getting His message out it's by availability, not initiation. God almost never initiates, He most always is just Available. And being a Good God, He's left clues to Him in every part of the Creation. Music, numbers, History, Nature, Physics, ad infinitum. If there's one thing about God, it's that He's available.
Maybe that's the answer to the tension between doing God's work and waiting, all at the same time. It would seem that there are certain things we can initiate. I feel that the most a person can initiate is to let their availability be known. Let people know you're there. Don’t go around bothering them in their homes, pretending to be an apostle. If you go to Ephesians 4:8-11 you'll find that God gave the people of Christ, the Church, some gifts. The word in Greek is domata. That means that there are three types of beings in the Church. Christ, Domata, and saints. As far as people are concerned, there are only two roles in doing God's work. Domata, those who lead, and saints, those who follow. The ones who lead are the ones called to preach. The ones who follow, support the leaders; and as C S Lewis says, show off Christ to each other. Saints are not called to evangelize, sorry. Domata are RARE in the Body of Christ. Most all of us need perfecting, rather than our trying to perfect others. Sinners. Jesus never said for the non-domata members of the Body to go door to door. He may have told His Apostles to do some of that, but not the saints. Even then, if you study the life of the foremost Apostle, Paul, you'll see that his practice was NOT to go door to door. These "unofficial" domata who go around evangelizing are only working out their insecurities. They feel they need to somehow be better than they are. They have to improve on God's creation.
One more thing and I'll get off this part. If you were a true Domata, you wouldn't be going out on Saturday morning to make the rounds of the neighborhood, showing the disrupted homeowners your "verse for the day." You'd have a Major role to fill; like Paul or Luther or Tyndale. These are Domata.
OK, let's get more personal. Wives, husbands, don't judge your spouses' relationship to God by his or her present actions. I get sick when I hear someone lament that his or her spouse isn't "saved." You hear that kind of thing on every Christian TV or radio talk show. It's a big subject of discussion. This concept of having to save people has really muddled our lives. The Poor Little Woman has to put up with "life with an unbeliever." [Good name for a Christian Rock band] Let's hope she never affects the salvation of her spouse. Then she wouldn't have a way to get sympathy from everyone. Butt out of your partners' spiritual life, except maybe to support when asked. Know that you don't have a clue as to his or her standing with God. Their name might be on the list, and yours may not. If the bum treats you bad, get rid of him. But let God deal with his soul.
True Christians understand that one's salvation is God's realm, not man's. No man has ever saved anyone. Any Christian who is truly honest can only hope that he's getting it right, and keep trying to expand his faithing. It can be maddening to ask some Christians if they think they're saved. Some of the most devout-appearing are the folks that give you the vaguest answers regarding their standing with God. The counterfeit Christians can talk for hours on how close they are to God. They are right. They just don't realize that their God is their Self. They've reduced God down to their own definition. Stay out of other people's hair. The only things you should be initiating are your faith acts; things that will enhance your position with God.
Let God do the leading. He knows where you need to be. That's where He's leading you. And He'll be the One to decide how, where and when to lead anyone else. He's called some and not called others. And only He can know for sure who are those called. Just, Butt, out.
Let's leave it to God and faithe, while we wait.
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