Isaiah 55:10-11 states (in the King James Version): "For as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the
thing] whereto I sent it."
I was thinking about this passage
recently, and the reason that this was noteworthy to me was that I
realized that I hadn't thought about it in a long time. I used
to think about it within the context of evangelism. Back when I was a
conservative Christian, I believed that I was supposed to go out into
the world and make disciples, al la Matthew 28:18-20. But I was shy,
and so I was not good at recruiting converts to evangelical
Christianity. Yet, I was encouraged to keep on planting seeds, telling
people about my Christian faith, for God had promised that his word
would not return empty. Even if a person rejected what I had to say, I
was told, God years later could bring to his or her remembrance what I
had said, and God could use that to bring that person closer to Him.
While we were encouraged to be tactful and winsome in our evangelism,
since a significant part of our mission was to share God's love with
others, I was told that God could even use a dogmatic statement that I
made to bring someone closer to Him. God could even cause the person
who listened to me to focus on what was important in my words, while
disregarding things that I said out of pride!
That's how I saw things then. Nowadays, however, I'm not much of a missionary----and I mean for anything,
including liberalism, opposition to organized religion, etc. I'm not
crusading to encourage people to believe the exact same way that I do.
One reason is that, on a number of issues, I do not know what to
believe, for I can see positives and negatives in all sorts of
perspectives. Another reason is that I'm hesitant to say that I want
for people to be exactly where I am, for there are areas in which where I
am is lacking. I don't use this blog to make converts (as much as I
would love for people to read me and think that I'm a profound thinker);
rather, I'm blogging to work through issues, and it's often the case
that I'm not satisfied where I end up by the end of my blog post.
So
is there anything that I'd like for others to believe or to do? Well,
probably so. I'd like for evangelical Christianity to be more sensitive
to the plight of introverts and socially-challenged people rather than
pressuring them to fit into a happy-happy social mold. I'd like for the
U.S. to have national health insurance. Should I be trying to craft my
blog such that I plant seeds more effectively. Perhaps. But right now
I'm comfortable with doing my blog as I do it.