Are we not GLAD?!

When you live among people who are traditionally "hardened" to the gospel—which has been our situation for many years—it’s easy to begin thinking that so few hearts are really ever "softened" to hear the gospel. This is a tragic mindset that can so easily creep up on us. I have at times found my gospel fervor dampened by a series of discouraging conversations with friends and neighbors I live among. 

The truth is, God’s Spirit is already at work in many lives all around us. They are ready to hear the gospel. Do we believe this? Do we pray for this? Do we live this way in our evangelism?

This principle is clear in the story of the Lost Son. Luke 15:17 says, "But when he came to himself." The implication is that he was not himself up to that point, that he was not ready to hear the gospel when he was partying with his friends and wasting his inheritance. He still desperately needed the Lord, he just didn’t know it. He was not ready. But when he ended up with nothing, and was hungry, alone, and ashamed - then he came to his senses. That’s when God’s Spirit moved in his heart. This was when he was ready.

A friend once shared with me his habit of going into public places where he lives, like a coffee shop, and prayerfully imagining the sick among them needing a doctor, and then asking them one by one, "Do you need a doctor? I know a doctor who can help you!" 

"Well…no, I don't need a doctor", they might answer. Because they did not know they were even sick! But, what if at that moment someone ran into the coffee shop shouting, "Is there a doctor in the house? Please, I need help!" That’s a person who is crying out for help, ready to be healed! 

I like this posture of readiness that my friend tries to live by. For that is how we can view people who need the gospel, and especially those who know they need to be saved, though may have no idea what that actually means at that time! I think if we were more aware of just how much people around us need the Lord as we pray for them, love them, and share the gospel with them, then we would also become more aware, by God’s grace, and attentive, by God’s love, to those who are indeed ready to hear and respond to the gospel.

I use a GLAD acronym to help me remember this. Each day I aim to Glorify God with my life, through prayer, worship, and time in the Word; Love those around me as Jesus does, praying they "come to themselves" and recognize their need to be saved; Attend to those who are ready to hear the gospel; and Declare the Good News to them.

Are we not GLAD?! Praise God, we have been saved! And we know a Good Doctor who saves lives! When we walk into a coffee shop or into a classroom do we not see how much people desperately need Jesus? Even when they themselves may not see their own need…yet? Do we listen to their hard stories? And are we ready to share the hope of the gospel with them from God’s word?

Are you able to do that yet, in your new language? Do you have a few stories from Scripture you know well enough to share in the context of a conversation with someone in need? For example, let’s say you are talking with someone and you sense they have "come to themselves" and are beginning to see their desperate need for forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Could you share the story of the Lost Son and communicate the gospel in an understandable way? Not just in a "Let me tell you a story" presentational way, but in a conversational way that meets them where they are, as you share how you too were lost, but God found you, you were dead in sin, but God raised you to life through faith in Christ by his grace! These are some ways we can converse the gospel with those who are ready to hear!