Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Links in the Chain

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God "has put eternity into the hearts of men." If I were to explain this verse to someone, I would say that every person on planet earth is on a spiritual journey. They may not realize it and they may not be sure of the destination, but this verse is really clear that no one ever really dies. They just change addresses when their heart stops beating.

If this is the case with all people, then the question we must ask as followers of Christ is this: what is our role in effecting another person's spiritual journey? Is there anything we can do to help determine their destination? And I believe we can find a big part of our answer in God's word in 1 Corinthians 3:7-8 . "So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor."

If everyone around us is on a spiritual journey, then our role as believers is to be a faithful link in the chain of someones journey*. It's that simple. Many believers live with the guilt of feeling like they are a failure spiritually because they aren't out winning people to Jesus. But that's not always the role God has for us. In fact, here are some simple observations I want to make when it comes to being a faithful link in the chain:

First, you cannot be the one who decides which link in the chain you will be. God may use you to be the very first link in the chain of someones journey, being the first person to ever talk to them about Christ or to demonstrate Christ-likeness in your character and actions. Much of the time you and I will be middle links in the chain. God will use a conversation, an act of kindness, an invitation to a religious function, etc, to spur someone on toward thinking about spiritual things and their personal need for God. And sometimes God will use you to be the link in the chain leading them to begin a personal relationship with Jesus.

Second, not everyone's spiritual journey has the same amount of links. For some, it only takes a few links to get them thinking about God and ready to commit their lives to Him. For others, it takes a lifetime to get them to the point of readiness. Extreme examples are those who have death-bed conversions. I will talk about readiness in my next blog, along with three other phases I believe every person goes through in their spiritual journey.

Third, your job is to be "a" faithful link, not "all" of the links. Again let me say that some of us are paralyzed in our desire to witness to others because we feel that if we can't do "everything" (share Jesus with someone, lead them to Christ, take them through an intense 12-week discipleship program,see their whole family come to Christ and be called to serve as a foreign missionary), we decide to do nothing. But again, our assignment is to be a single link that God can use to continue His work in someone's life. Are you ready and willing to become a link used by God in someone's journey? If so, take a minute to ask God to show you ways He wants to use you in His work of drawing others to Himself.

*Credit belongs to authors Lee Strobel and Mark Mittleberg for providing the basic "link in the chain" concept based on their book titled The Unexpected Adventure (Zondervan, 2009).