I have been so thankful for the past 2 months (wow, 2 months already!) that i have been in Taiwan for SBS. It is unreal what the word of God says when you look at it with new eyes and looking at the background/context of what the word is saying. One thing that I have been learning is how uncontrollably active the early apostles were and how they really did not let anything get in between them and preaching the gospel and sharing the love of Christ with all those around them. Each of the early disciples knew their risks and had an understanding what what following Jesus meant, that they were going to indeed suffer for the sake of it all. Being stoned to near death/death, lashings and beheadings were common results because of their faith in Jesus being the Messiah. It has put so much in perspective in my head about those around me and all of them that do not know the name of Jesus.
Since being here and the past 3-4 weeks especially I have been so aware of the people I am surrounded with in our area of Danshui and how God craves for them to come home to him. We were challenged with a question “what would you be willing to do for 1 person to come to know the Lord” — it is humbling for me to think about that… not 1 million or 100 people, not even 10 people… but only 1. And that 1 is worth the same to God than countless amounts of people are. God has set me up with some amazing divine appointments where things just led back to Jesus and it was just able to open up to sharing the gospel with them and answering their questions about it all. Sure, I walked away with questions of myself but I think that is the point. We aren’t ever going to fully going to get it as believers. We aren’t ever going to fully grasp the idea of how huge God is and why things happen the way that they do. The only thing that God wants us to know is how foundational our faith in Him is and how we need to live from that. We need to be rooted and grounded in the love of our Maker so that we can share it with others.
This has opened up my eyes a bit about the Thai people whom I love with everything inside of me. So many of them know the name of Jesus and some even will say that they believe in God and that Jesus was real but because of their families they cannot move forward in this relationship with Jesus. Luke 14:26 says “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” No, this does not mean to literally hate your family and disown them but it does mean that this is the cost of discipleship. You have to be willing to put what is comfortable behind you and move into the uncomfortable. You have to be willing to put everything in your soul towards moving the gospel forward in the name of Christ. And so many of the Thai people just aren’t at this point yet. So I am just going to pray for them and continue to do what God tells me to do and allow the Spirit to move in them. I believe in that.