The Challenge

I was sitting yesterday, with the sweet little two year old I nanny. We were having a good day. Normal. Nothing about it was extraorinary. All of a sudden the door bell to her house rings. I reluctantly get up to see who it is. I opened the door to two elderly women who I vaguely recognize. The woman closest to me states, "Hello Kimberly! How are you? How's Lauren doing?" (Lauren is the two year old I watch.) I smile as Lauren comes toddling up to me, still in her jammies. The women at the door are Jehovah's witnesses. We have a nice little chat, and they speak to me about what they believe is truth. I speak about what I believe is truth. It was a pleasent exchange, nothing of great debate. But as conversation ended, and these two elderly ladies made their way in the cold, my heart began to break. I found myself literally sick to my stomach. I began praying, and crying out to the Lord. I have never been a person who is good at condemning other people to hell. I don't think that's my job. But it broke my heart that these two, sweet women, were lost for truth. Religions like this always tear me apart. This is because they're almost there. They've almost got it. They believe in Jesus...only that he's God's son, not God almighty or part of the trinity. They believe in Heaven...only the vast majority of them when dead will be waiting until God decideds to put them in a seperate heaven, not heaven, heaven. There are so many other things they believe that are almost truth, yet somehow, got mixed up. On the other hand, they believe that God called human beings to love one another, and that a life without love is meaningless. That was our whole discussion yesterday, 1 corinthians 13. Love. And I will tell you right now, these women are full of love. Not only that, they are so devoted to what they believe, they were willing to set out in the cold to make sure people heard what they believe with everything in them, is truth. Yes, my heart was aching. Yes, it surely broke. I nearly cried from the pain I was feeling. All I know is that i'm certainly glad i'm not the ultimate judge. It pains me to say and truly believe...I think they're wrong. And i'm sure it pains them to think that i'm wrong. But while I was crying out for the Lord, asking what I should be interceeding for, I was hit by a brick wall with a challenge. They very well may be wrong in what they believe, but it seems like they are far more devoted to sharing what they believe than I am. I sometimes shrivel up like a flower if I feel my faith won't be welcomed somewhere. I hadn't a slightest rememberance of the womens names who came to the door, yet they not only remembered my name, but the child's name, and that I was the nanny. I wonder, how many houses/ people do they meet and remember? You can tell their Bibles are precious to them. And while I think they interpurate somethings incorrectly, they really study the word. I read my Bible, meditate, but far too often I don't treasure the word of God as I should. I'm not saying that I need to go door to door to profess what I believe. I'm not even saying that I need to announce it wherever I go. But I certainly think that I need to make sure people know something is different about me. I need to not give way to fear because I have the living, victorious, creator of all things living WITHIN ME. Fear shouldn't even be part of my vocabulary unless it's referring to me being in fear of my creator. So in conclusion, I just want to say that maybe I am the only believer who feels this way sometimes. Maybe everyone else reading this is doing far better in this area. But please take these words as encouragment. And whether you disagree with someone or not, remember to love them. That's exactly what Jesus did. That's exactly what he called us to do. And hopefully, by loving the world, they will see truth.