…God our Savior…desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4, ESV)
I attended one of our Links Fellowships here in the Southern California desert recently and sat next to a man I had not met before. I had not visited this Fellowship for several weeks and Charlie (not his real name) was new to the group. I found out later he was a relatively new believer. He listened intently and seemed very eager to learn. That particular study is taught by a very capable Bible teacher and as we went through our study that morning, I noticed Charlie had a different kind of Bible. He was struggling to keep up in finding some of the passages we were reading. I quietly asked him if I could help, and he was very appreciative.
Normally, I would just find the passage in my Bible and let someone follow along as we read. But I was surprised that his Bible was unlike any I had ever seen. Its extra large print was easy to read, but finding a familiar passage in this Bible where a single chapter often took up several pages was a bit intimidating for me. To further complicate the issue, the book name, chapters and verses were not highlighted on the top of the page or even in the text. I am so used to “my Bible” that this new format forced me out of my comfort zone, and I had to concentrate on what the text was saying to make sure I was in the right place.
I learned after the study that Charlie was 90 years old and could barely see anymore. When I asked him if he could still play golf, he said he had never really been a player. I then asked how he came to find out about this Fellowship and he replied, “A neighbor friend asked me to come with him.” He pointed across the table to his friend and said he had been talking about life with him for a while now. Both men had big smiles on their faces as we left.
Charlie’s neighbor asked him to come to a Links Fellowship where he could investigate what God says about reality and to do it in a safe place.As I drove home, several passages of Scripture flooded my mind. I thought of the Parable of the Sower, recorded in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15. I thought of the Great Commission, which you’ll find in Matthew 28:16-20. Then there are the many verses about Jesus healing the blind folks he encountered. One with special significance is John 9:25: “All I know is I was once blind and now I see.” There are so many lessons for us in these wonderful verses, how can we possibly wrap all of them into a short devotion with some practical application?
First, let me encourage you to read the various passages I have listed. Notice that they all have one thing in common. Jesus is the one who did the work. Someone threw that seed and it took hold in Charlie’s fertile heart. Charlie’s neighbor asked him to come to a Links Fellowship where he could investigate what God says about reality and to do it in a safe place. At one point Charlie was just like all of us, spiritually blind and dead in his sins. Then Jesus opened his eyes to the truth, just as he did to ours. The resurrected Jesus told his disciples (and us) to go out into the world and make other disciples; an invitation to a “blind” to meet the Savior who can open closed eyes is the beginning to our friend’s following him.
We all have family, friends, and neighbors who don’t know the Lord. Part of our witness is to let others see the only one who saves, living in us, through the ups and downs of life. But we must also take that invitational step, the one where we say like Philip did to Nathanael, “Come and see.”
—
Marty Jacobus
October 24, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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