Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt
now a Christian too ! Yesterday I surrendered my life to Jesus !”
Oh , wow ! I was ecstatic ! I gave him a big hug while saying , “ Dude ! That ’ s so awesome . I ’ m so excited for you ! That means we are brothers in Christ now . You have to put up with me for all eternity !” Then I went to give him another hug , and he shoved me back . His demeanor changed into something serious . The smile was now disappearing as he began saying , “ Shane , you know what else I heard yesterday ? I heard that if you spend your whole life not knowing Jesus , and you ’ re never born again , then die that way , you will end up in an eternity separated from all the goodness of God in a literal place called hell .” Then he sternly said , “ Do you believe that ?” A knot immediately formed in my stomach , and a lump swelled in my throat as I muttered , “ Yeah , man . I believe the Bible , and I believe it teaches that .” I ’ ll never , ever forget his next question . It ’ s burned into my memory bank . With tears now streaming down this grown man ’ s face , he says , “ Did you not care enough about me to tell me that ?”
What do you say to that ? How do you reply ? Everything we have to offer as excuses in those moments sounds extremely selfish . “ I didn ’ t want you to think I ’ m weird .” “ I didn ’ t want you to get mad at me .” “ I was afraid you ’ d treat me like an outcast .” “ I didn ’ t know what to say , so I didn ’ t say anything .” If we ’ re honest , we mainly make the lack of our soul-winning efforts and personal evangelism about us —
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