We Can Try

A couple of days ago, Friday, we made a trip with the purpose of sharing the good news with complete strangers through the online game of RuneScape. Pretty bland sounding, huh? Oddly enough, it can get like that sometimes. Just a generic event to help others. Nothing more, yet nothing less. In and of itself, it's quite beneficial for some people, yet it can lack something greater. While talking about Jesus, those very words can lack Him.

Some people who go out on trips with me often talk about the hard time they have connecting with the people who can seem so far away. Personalty, I can attest that it can be harder to truly care about a collection of pixels than a physical person in real life. However, for the most part, this connection does not come from a visual, physical interaction, but rather, a spiritual one. We should be connected to these people because we love the world in a similar way to how Christ loved us. Just as much as He saved (loved) us while we were sinners, we are to love those who are unsaved. After all, aren't we all simply sinners?

So then, are we becoming connected with people anywhere in the world through a screen? Is that what online evangelism is? To and extent, sure. As I already said, it is understandable if you feel removed from the person who can be so far away. After all, the contact is so thin, being only lines of text on a screen. It can seem imposable to love a random player in a game where there are hundreds and even thousands of others like them walking around everywhere. How in the world can we get that connection with them, allowing the Gospel to be presented in love, and not just out of compulsion? In all honesty, we can't. The only way that online evangelism works more than simply presenting the Gospel is by the Holy Spirit. The only way that those words, as I started out with in this post, have the chance to not be lacking of something greater is if we are filled with the Spirit of the living God.

Now, I must admit, that that is simplifying things greatly. I mean, isn't that a normal thing in face to face evangelism? You'll need that no matter how you talk to people about Jesus. But really, is this not the primary problem that people have with online evangelism? That is, that they cannot connect with others? There's no way around it, you can only get that connection if you let God not only do the growing, but also the planting. You are simply the tool that he chooses to use. Nothing more, nothing less. We can try to give the Gospel, but it does no good unless God causes it to do so.

-The micromanaged freewill
~Jacob