As a Christian, have you ever wished you’d had a greater hand in leading someone to Christ? Maybe you had general discussions about God with non-believers, or even prayed with them, but you’ve never been part of “closing the deal.”
Well, don’t despair. God doesn’t usually do major works in someone’s life all at once; He usually does His work over the course of time. Some people might only require a short path on their way to deciding to follow Christ, needing only a few conversations or teachings from the Bible. On the other hand, other folks require an extensive amount of steps before yielding to Jesus. They may hear the truth multiple times, they may acknowledge that the theory of evolution doesn’t explain everything, and they may assent to the idea that despite “having it all,” there’s still something missing. It takes people varying amounts of time to work through that paradox.
God works in some pretty amazing ways. We never know if someone’s going to become a Christian, and if they do, how many “steps” it will take to get them there. The important thing to remember is that whether it’s three steps or 705, each one of those steps needs to happen before they bow their knee to the Lord. Being a part of any of those steps helps them get to the end of the journey.
If you interact with someone in a God-honoring way at any point before they accept Christ as their Savior, take joy in participating! You may not learn in this life what happens to that person’s eternal disposition, but then again, you may have brought them a step closer to seeing them again someday after this life is over.
So even if you don’t pray with someone to accept Christ, don’t give up on helping them work toward that goal.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. –Galatians 6:9
