Living The Great Commission

I had an EKG and an echocardiogram the other day. When I entered the room, the technician said, “I know you. I hear you on the radio. You are the pastor of The Bridge." She listens to Karl and Crew on Moody Radio, where I’m a periodic guest.As she put on the electrodes, and then followed with the ultrasound, she talked. And it was fascinating. She told me about all the conversations she has in that room. She said, “People ask me in here, ‘Am I going to live or die?’ And I tell them, ‘That’s not the important question. We are all going to die. But where will you go after you die?’”What boldness! And yet, she does it so naturally, and she has such a sincere voice and mannerism, that people talk to her. And she witnesses. She shares the Gospel with people all day. She told me that her job was given to her by the Lord to represent Him in a special way, at a place and time when people are thinking about their mortality.Before I left the room, she asked, “Do you have a card? I tell people to go to your church but I would like to give them your card, so they can know where to go and what time."Can you believe that? Here is a woman who does not even attend our church (she has her own ethnic church in the city), but she’s inviting people to The Bridge! She’s a follower of Jesus and having the Holy Spirit in her, she wants to share the Good News of Christ to everyone. And she wants them to meet others in God's family by encouraging them to check out our church.She lamented not getting the Doctor or nurses in her department to church yet, but she’s gotten them all to stop taking the Lord’s name in vain :-). When my own cardiologist would use Jesus’ name, she would say, “Doctor, that’s my Lord. You don’t even know him. Why say his name like that? I wish you get to know him.” And then he smiles and apologizes.I know that every workplace is different. And perhaps someday she will be reprimanded for witnessing. It is sad that you can talk about anything under the sun at work, but get in trouble for mentioning Jesus in a positive way. But remember what Jesus’ disciples said about that when standing before the Jerusalem Sanhedrin and told to stop witnessing, "We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).What about you? Your workplace is the platform God has given you to be his witness. Are you using it that way?