Planting not "Hard Selling"

Last Sunday night I had the opportunity to stand by the bedside of someone minutes away from passing from this life to the next.  I had never met her before and knew virtually nothing about her.

How did I get to that room?  She was the friend of one of our church member's neighbor (Yes, I know that is a bit confusing.).  As she approached death she was full of fear and asked to speak to a pastor, but this family knew of no pastor to call.  However, the friend knew her neighbor was a Christian and she called him and he called me.  That started the ball rolling. 

I had the honor and privilege of sharing the Gospel with this woman and leading her in a prayer to receive new and eternal life through Jesus.  Although she could not speak back to me, I could tell through her tears and her gaze that something got through.  She died less than five minutes after we prayed.  I don't know for sure if she received Christ or not, but I sure hope and pray she did. 

That was a powerful moment, but here is what I want us to reflect on and discuss.  It is a profound truth that we all overlook everyday: None of that would have happened if Larry had not been planting seeds in his neighbor's life long before.   It was the neighbor connection that got me to the hospital that night.  Those seeds haven’t brought the neighbor to church yet or even prompted her to make any direct moves toward God, but they are there and God used one of them to prompt her to contact Larry for spiritual help when her friend was near death.   

THAT is a piece of the evangelism work we are ALL called to! 

We plant seeds through kindness, love and service that points to Jesus and trust God for the rest.  God WILL use us!  There is no telling who or how many will be changed as a result!     

Do we need to be prepared to share our story and explain the Gospel in a simple, clear way when we have the opportunity?  Absolutely!

However, I wonder if we are missing a couple of critical things:  

1. Evangelism is everyone's work, not just the expert's job.  Everyone has a role to play.
   
2. Most people are led to Christ through several links in a divine chain of relationships and encounters with Scripture and truth.  Oftentimes the different people and events have no direct connection or even awareness to one another.  The only common link is the unseen Holy Spirit directing the process.   
   
3. Our primary job as Christians is to lovingly plant seeds of the Gospel that point to Jesus, not try to "hard sell" the Gospel as if it all depended upon our words and actions right at that moment.

What do you think about all this?  How has God used you to plant seeds?