Vantage Point
Jogging to Salvation
I was pastoring in California when, on a Sunday morning, a
young man slipped into the back of the sanctuary very late in the service. When
I gave the altar call, he was the first to respond. That day a new soul entered
God’s kingdom.
After most of the people had left, I asked him what led him
to our church.
He told me he had never been a believer, but had a relative
who had witnessed to him throughout the years. She reminded him occasionally
that she prayed for him daily.
This didn’t make much of an impression until the day he woke
up under conviction, suddenly aware of his need for a relationship with God.
All he could think of was, I’ve got to find a church. He thought of ours simply
because he jogged past it often.
“I couldn’t wait for you to quit preaching,” he told me, “so
I could get to the altar.”
Another lesson in humility.
God had been preparing this young man for salvation by
bringing together the efforts of believers who had never met. The relative who
prayed and witnessed had no idea that this man was even close to receiving
Jesus. He had never given her a positive indication of any kind. She was caught
off guard, joyously, when he called her with the news.
Our part was simply to be a church where the truth of the
gospel could be found. Paul spoke of this invisible interaction: “I planted,
Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6, NKJV).
Someone else did all the planting and watering in this case.
All we did was harvest. We were blessed to be there when God gave the increase.
Today your job may be to plant or water. You may even be
blessed to be in on the harvest. But it is always God who gives the increase.
Is someone jogging by your church right now?
Ken Horn
E-mail your comments to pe@ag.org.
