What Do You Have That I Don’t Have?

Some years ago, a friend, surprised by the evident changes God was bringing about in my life, asked me rather bluntly: What is it about your religion that makes you consider it so special, that you spend all day talking about Jesus until it becomes tiresome? What do you have that I do not? For me, the answer was simple.

“Christ!” I answered, and he gave me a look like the Joker in a deck of American playing cards. I tried to explain the Good News to him as simply as possible; I told him about mutual friends who had found in Christ the light for their lives, which had been darkened by sin.

It was a glorious morning for his life, for mine, and for the patient heart of our Lord. Jacinto understood the message and his condition as a sinner, and he surrendered to Christ, his two eyes awash in a sea of tears that spoke of a repentance his lips were unable to express. Before that day, I had many opportunities to tell my friend Jacinto about Christ, but “at the ninth hour,” I lacked the courage. Since Christ is ultimately the author of the work, and I never took the initiative to break the ice and preach to him, He moved my friend’s heart to ask me the question that ultimately proved to be the trigger that brought Jacinto to His feet. What do you have that I do not?

The miracle of conversion is a wonderful event. Only the Spirit can accomplish it, but we need to fill ourselves with courage and speak to people about Christ “until it becomes tiresome,” as Jacinto used to tell me. Most of the time, we feel incapable of approaching the people we love and sharing the Gospel with them. At other times, we innocently fall into the presumption that our testimony is enough to make an impact on our unbelieving friends. God has given us every tool we need to proclaim His Word, especially the Spirit, who gives us power, courage, and a kind of passion we cannot express.

We focus on prayer, but we lack the boldness and daring to confront a life with the Word of God, doing the part that falls to us as disciples of Christ. We must try again and again, whatever the cost, regardless of the immediate results. Sowing the seed of the Gospel can be painful, but the joy of heaven overwhelms our souls with indescribable emotions when we see a repentant sinner allowing Christ to enter his life. Yes, God gives the growth, but nothing will happen if we do not undertake the blessed task of sowing His Word. Every day, we miss dozens of opportunities to help bring about God’s miracles of softening the hardened hearts of that vast multitude of people who are waiting for us to approach them with a word of hope and love. There is a crisis of love in our time. It is hard to say, but our disobedience in preaching the Word indicates, in a certain way, that we need to be filled with love for the lost.

When the Pharisees asked Jesus which commandment was the most important, He did not hesitate to give them the irrefutable answer befitting His divine nature: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). This is not only the first commandment (instruction, directive), but also the driving force that touches the most sensitive fibers of our hearts and moves us to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If each one of the millions of Christians in the world resolved to sow a single seed and make spreading the Good News our life’s mission, the world would be different. To a very great extent, it depends on us.

Many people around us are like Jacinto and even ask themselves the same question or go about looking for Christians whom they can ask it. But sometimes we turn our faces away or simply take refuge in the bunker of religiosity so that we do not have to see the neighbor whom we must love as ourselves. Worse still, we keep them at the distance imposed by a carnal indifference disguised as colossal conformism, which turns us into worse sinners. The Gospel is love for those who wander through the world with no paths to walk, and you and I must remain attentive to our Savior’s command. That is why we are His witnesses in a world hungry for the true God.

God bless you!