I had a great time witnessing yesterday.  The conversation started as I was sharpening knives for my friend who owns a Turkish sandwich Shop.  As it is, he gives me a salad and I sharpen his cutlery.  The relationship has its roots in witnessing as well as learning Hebrew. 

As a customer came in with his son and future daughter-in-law, he noticed me putting the first grind on the knives. He immediately asked if I could sharpen his pocket knife. I quickly put an edge on the soft metal blade, giving him some tips and a rundown on the consistency of its steel.

After giving him his knife back, I showed him Pr 27:17 , “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”  I pointed out that the Bible even mentions sharpening of knives.  With this, the conversation led into the need, we as humans have for companionship.  I soon learned of the nature of their visit to the restaurant.  The man’s mother was in the hospital without hope of recovery. I expressed my sympathy. As the conversation deepened, they noticed the embroidered cross on my shirt.

The father made the broad and very modern and popular statement that God loves everyone and all religions are in pursuit of Him.  I tenderly but unequivocally stated, “yein”/yes and no.  “John 3:16 says, “ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

I posed the question, “How important is free will?”  They answered, “Pretty important.”  As our discussion proceeded, we concluded that it is an absolute for love to exist and grow. The clarity of that was illustrated when I asked the future daughter-in-law if she loved her future husband and how long she would tolerate him, if he tried to take her free will away.  Her answer was, “not at all”.

I then asked them: “What is love and what causes one to love.”  These questions, almost universally, end with something cute or cuddly.  Yet If there is a mother in the room, she quickly cuts through the din and states; “a baby.” 

With a little prompting, they arrived at the conclusion that a baby causes any decent person to love, “But what is love?” I asked. Again, they were silent with befuddlement.  After letting the question sink in a while, I asked, “what would happen if there was a baby left over there in that corner and no one went to care for it?”.  They immediately answered, “It would die.”

I then defined sin as all that is against the wonderful gift of life and explained that we are all sinners.

It was then clear.  Life is the most valuable thing, we as humans have.  It is a gift from Him who is love.  He inspires us to protect His gift with all that we have; even our own lives. 

Jesus, gave us the ultimate gift:  his life, to redeem us.  All he asks, is that we repent and acknowledge, that we are destroyers of the gift of life, and believe the good news that His death and resurrection is our salvation.

I then prayed with the family as they were saying their goodbyes to a Mother and Grandmother this week.  Please pray that God’s word will continue to work.  The father grabbed my hand as they went out the door, stated that the time was not wasted, and sincerely thanked me for the conversation.

Social Share:
Donate to our Ministry

Directly or send to: Sudbrock Family
P.O. Box 191 Springfield, MO 65801

 Subscribe to the Scoop!

Scoop    via  Email
Go to Top
JSN Epic 2 is designed by JoomlaShine.com | powered by JSN Sun Framework