As followers of Christ, part of our mission here on earth is to share the good news and point people to God. It is good to take that charge seriously because I believe there are many people, like myself, who are lost without Jesus and whose lives can be dramatically altered for the better by knowing him. However, I think there can come a point where that valuable time spent building into someone can become wasted time.

I have had spiritual conversations with peers who seem interested in hearing more about Christ. I find myself overly excited to share with them my personal faith story and how they, too can experience a peace that surpasses all understanding. Time goes by; I am still pursuing them, still praying for them and still anxious about the prospect of them making the choice to follow Christ. I wait, and wait, and hope, and pray…..and they begin to lose interest. What did I do wrong? Did my persistence and excitement have the opposite affect and drive them off? Perhaps it is as Jesus says in today’s Gospel of Luke, “And for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust form your feet….”

Sometimes we are just called to sow the seed. God will water it and grow it on his own time. We did not fail; we did our job by loving that person and planting with them the good news. If we let him, God will use us to change other lives. And who knows? That person we were building into may return to the memory of our sharing with them, praying for them, or leading them to Christ later when they are in the lows of life. We pray not that God would use us to change one life, but that he would use us to impact many.