I recently read a piece about an Islamic convert to Christianity who withstood torture at the hands of Islamic radicals. It’s an amazing story but it’s not the one I want to focus on here. (That has to be the worst lede ever.)
In explaining his conversion, he said what made Christ intriguing to him was meeting Christians at college who seemed at peace and ready to forgive wrongs done to them. He said their openness to sacrifice shocked, surprised, and inspired him to begin reading about Christ. He didn’t go into the particulars about what he specifically saw in Christians and it would likely make for boring reading. It may have been something as simple as forgiving gossip or a harsh word. But it brought home to me the importance of little things in conversion stories.
I read a lot of conversion stories. I’ve watched every episode of The Journey Home on EWTN. Kind of a conversion geek, I’ll admit. Seriously, Marcus Grodi would have a restraining order against me if he knew what a fan I was. But I digress. So often, converts mention that someone said or performed a loving gesture or someone’s sense of peace intrigued them. And it’s not that those folks immediately converted because of it. But a seed was planted. Sometimes it’s a grandparent. Sometimes it’s a friend of a friend. It can be anyone. But the seed is planted. And it seems to me that as Christians we’re all responsible for spreading those seeds.
When we speak of being a Christian, it’s easy to focus on the big questions like “Would I die for Christ?” but the question should also be “Will I live for Christ at home, at the mall, when the kids are driving me crazy, at work every day?” In short, be a good Christian because people are watching.
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