Monday 1 September 2008

Gospel at work

I have been purposely putting my bible on my desk for the past 5 weeks, right next to my team leader who is a Muslim.
He is a devout Muslim, goes to pray at lunch time, and just before he goes home, and he does not eat pork or anything that has been contaminated by pork meat/fat. It has been my desire to engage him in gospel talk since I started working at this new job.

This morning, he looked at my bible, opened it, and flipped through some pages. Then, he asked me if I knew what the differences were between Islam and Christianity. He seemed to have his own answers, and without waiting for me to give him my answers, he asked me if I read Koran. I said, no, I've seen it, but not read it. He asked me if I wanted to read it. I said, yes, because I didn't want to turn down his religious initiative so that when I approach him with the gospel, he will at least accept my initiative and hear the gospel. The rest would be God's. Then my team leader looked through my eyes, and took out a book and handed to me. It was a Koran. Yes, that holy book of Islam. A fresh new legit copy of it, albeit in English.

He said, "have a read" with a grin on his face. He seemed happy.
I told him, "oooh.. it's gonna take a while, but.. are you giving this to me? Is this for me?"
He said, "yeah, I just keep a few copies of it, 'cause sometimes people want to read it, and I just give them out."
So I said, "oh, thanks. it's gonna take a while but I'll read it. Have you read through it (Koran) all?"
He said, "yes."
Then I said, "would you read the Bible?"
He said, "yeah"
So I told him that I'll get him a copy of the Bible, and asked, "so what are the differences between Islam and Christianity?"
He said, "nah, actually, there aren't that many differences."
This was when I thought was THE MOMENT to tell him the greatest truth in the universe that Jesus is God which makes Christianity distinct from Islam (and any other religion for that matter).
But before I could continue, he said, "hmm. but we'll talk about it sometime later."

I am yet to learn how to better engage people in workplace with the gospel (it's been only 5 weeks since I started working in a real secular environment), but I pray that my weak personality or stiff tongue will not come as a hindrance to people hearing the gospel, but God may overcome and show Himself regardless of my weaknesses.

I'll be getting a Bible for him sometime soon, but please pray for me and more so for these people working next to me today.

1 comment:

Drew said...

Ahh a missed opportunity. I've missed so many but God seems to bring that person back for more. Everything is a process i believe.

Keep me posted on the outcome. Looking forward to our meeting on Monday