November 5th daily blog devotional by Keith Wayne Edwards
Read:
2 Timothy 2:25
with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.
Ephesians 4:15
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
One of the teachers at our bible college was a professional athlete before he got saved. One of his friends on the ministry team he became part of was a professional football player before he got saved as well, and they would go to college campuses and minister. His friend told him that there was a professional football player that called himself a Christian. He would party and get drunk, be promiscuous, and do unethical things in front of all his friends that looked at him as "Christian" The minister on the campus ministry team who was once a professional football player himself walked up to him and asked, "So, you are a Christian?" he told him, "no, not really. I just tell people that I am." I think it's kind of cool huh? As he was talking, there was a cross necklace around his neck. He looked at him and said, "Why don't you take that cross off your neck and swallow it. Maybe it will really do you some good!" He repented of his sins and now he became part of the campus ministry team. Now, I wouldn't advise this to anyone to do. He was probably about 6'3 260 lbs of solid muscle. He was able to reach out to him and confront him, and the power of God came down and true repentance was born. We all have a place of confrontation in our Christian walk. It is our workplace, the church we attend, the streets, businesses we shop and trade at, etc. We are all called to advance God's kingdom, and confrontation is part of this advancement. Without confrontation, you cannot have spiritual growth or repentance through true salvation. It may not be as severe as our football friend, but there is some kind of confrontation that happens in discipleship as well. I'm a manager at a grocery retail store and had the opportunity to lead six co-workers to salvation. One was a Muslim who became a bible teacher, and the others didn't know much about true conversion, so I gave them the pure gospel of what true salvation through repentance really means. There was this one who was just religious and touched by a feeling of religion and spirituality. I would confront her about these things and actually tell her that she was just religious and needed true salvation. After about a year she came to me and said, "Keith, I don't think I am really saved?" I led her to the Lord and she is growing more and more in discipleship. You see, I'm saying all of this because you have a place at your workplace to make a difference. It may not be the giant football player or a Muslim in particular, but it is those around you. However, don't be surprised if God doesn't put someone in your path that will be challenging. It's all by God's grace my friend. Be a light at your workplace, but remember, confrontation can happen by being a living epistle read by many until the opportunity arises to speak to that one. Confrontation can be destructive or can be effective. Let it be confrontation by God's spirit.
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