Lord, Just Show Me a Sign

In the movie “The Man With Two Brains”, Steve Martin is a neurosurgeon who is widowed and finds himself falling in love with the very beautiful and seductive Kathleen Turner. Wishing to deepen his relationship with this new woman in his life, he goes to his bedroom and addresses a portrait of his late wife hanging over the bed. He asks her that if there is anything wrong with his feelings for this new woman, to simply give him a sign. Immediately, a haunting, loud voice begins to cry out “No! No! No!”… The lights begin to flash on and off, an earthquake cracks the wall behind him, a strong wind blows debris across the closed room, and the portrait begins to spin in circles. With no change in his expression, Steve Martin continues “…just a sign, any kind of sign, I’ll keep looking for it” He takes the portrait off the wall and says “Meanwhile, I’ll just put you in the closet”.

Sometimes, we want to put our responsibilities to God in the closet and ignore signs that He sends us. We become heroically blind to what we should do. Such can be the case with God calling us to evangelize our fellow man. Continuing with last week’s topic of common excuses on why people don’t evangelize, taken from Patrick Madrid’s book Search and Rescue:

3. “What if they simply ignore what I’m saying?”

This excuse is irrelevant. Our role is to plant the seed; it is God’s role to give it growth. Your friend or loved one may ignore your words today, but the Holy Spirit may work with him to reflect on them more deeply and see the truth in what you said. Pharaoh certainly did not accept Moses’ message when he delivered it to him. He spurned Moses and ignored him. But God came up with ways to soften Pharaoh’s heart and comply with the request of the old spiritual “…Let my people go!”

4. “I don’t have the training to speak to people about You, God”

People often say, “I get nervous and tongue-tied” Moses tried that one. “Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past… nor now that You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10) As today’s youth would say – Lame. “It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say.” (Exodus 4:12) Mother Teresa was far from an eloquent speaker but she drew others to Christ with her humble direct way of teaching the Faith.

5. “I’ll do it next time”

A near perfect excuse! We can avoid God’s call to share our faith and still not feel guilty! “I’m going to do it, just not now – I’m too busy.” The problem is that some opportunities only present themselves once in a lifetime. We have no way of knowing if there will even be a “next time” for that individual person. Carpe Diem.

 

What Does the Bible Say?

“Apart from me, you can do nothing”

                                                       — John 15:5

“I can do all things in Him who strengthens me”

                                                       — Philippians 1:4

“It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say.”     — Exodus 4:12

 

 

Evangelizing Challenge This Week

Evangelize yourself! Get one of the exciting spoken word CDs from the kiosk in the narthex. Strengthen your faith, expand your knowledge of the Church, more effectively cooperate with God’s grace, become a better instrument for the extension of God’s kingdom. Build your personal relationship with Christ by simple direct prayer and by listening to the testimony of others. The suggested donation for these is very low indeed.

 

“We try to be a Church that comes out of itself [to those] who do not participate… do not know much about it...are indifferent to it” – Pope Francis

 

Be a Disciple.