Life-Changing Conversations

“On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.” (Acts 16:13-15 NIV)

I find it interesting in this passage that Luke makes clear that his and Paul’s contact with Lydia was unintended.  They had gone looking for a place to pray.  Instead of praying, they began a conversation that had life-changing consequences.  

How often are we open to having our plans disrupted in order to have a life-changing conversation with someone?  It would have been rather easy for Luke and Paul to have passed by the women in order to look for another place they could pray in private.  They were intending to pray, right?  So they had a wonderful excuse to pass on by.  But they didn’t because they sensed the opportunity the Lord had given them.  

It is so easy to get so zoned in on our plans and agendas that we can miss the opportunities presented to us to be agents of transformation. Perhaps it is on an airplane, an encounter at the dining hall, or, like for me this weekend, sitting around a campfire. But we are always given a choice as to whether we will engage in this conversation or pass on it.  

They will not all end like the one the Apostles had with Lydia.  Many, perhaps most, will be more of the variety of “seed planting” or “seed watering” than seeing a harvest of faith as a result.  But the opportunity to learn people’s stories and to share our own are always ones worth taking.  I imagine Luke and Paul told Lydia and the other women of their encounter with Jesus and the impact it had on their lives, and I’m sure they inquired about the faith of the women.  I also imagine it was natural and not forced because they were just sharing about their lives.  

Often what makes these types of encounters so intimidating to us is we view them as artificial, akin to knocking on someone’s door and asking them, “If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain you would go to Heaven?”  But in reality, we, like Luke and Paul, need just to share our stories, or parts of them, of what the Lord did and is doing in our lives.  Peter sums it up nicely by saying, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (I Peter 3:15) 

Is that so difficult?  It shouldn’t be if we have an active and vibrant relationship with the Lord.  Think of it as telling the story of how you met your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend, or about someone else whom you dearly love and respect.  It should be natural rather than awkward or intimidating.

Today, and every day, be on look out for those “divine appointments” where the Lord is giving you the opportunity to share the reason for the hope that you have with someone who may be in need of hearing about the love of Jesus.  You never know how important that conversation may eventually be to the other person.  It very well may be life-changing. 

© Jim Musser 2015