A couple of weeks ago I needed to be in Boulder CO so I called my best friend from High School, Steve, who lives in Boulder to see if we could get caught up. He is a retired orthodontist, very bright and he and his wife are Jewish. I have talked to him about Christ before with no apparent results.
As soon as I sat down at his house he let me know that he has been fighting lung cancer for the last five years and was happy that I had called because he wanted to get my take on the concept of an afterlife. We spent the next four hours going through the Gospel all the way from Justification to what the Bible says about afterlife for departed souls.
I could tell at multiple points in our conversation that this Jesus talk was not lining up with his Jewish heritage and the Biblical ideas we were discussing were alien to him. He asked me many questions as we talked ie. “My youngest son is homosexual and I have affirmed him, what do you think?” “You make truth sound the same for everybody. Couldn’t it be different for everybody?” “Isn’t it possible that we just go to sleep when we die and never wake up?” And the questions just kept coming.
I had some thoughts after my time with Steve. First, I was again struck with the excitement and privilege of sharing the Gospel. Second, was the joy of being asked by a dear friend to tell him about Jesus and finally how faithful God is. You see, I asked God to give me opportunity to evangelize more in 2013. What a start.
A couple of questions came to mind after my time with Steve.
Am I prepared to answer his questions?
Is the Gospel more important than my relationship with Steve? To put it another way, am I ashamed of the Gospel because I value the current relationship with him more?
Finally, am I willing to pay the price to stick with him as long as he wants me to?
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