When you cross paths with people during the course of the day you never know what is going on in their lives. Not only do we need to take advantage of opportunities to witness when they come, we need to be looking for ways to create opportunities. Here is a good example:
While waiting in a cemetery to conduct a funeral service, Charles Simeon ( a preacher from England, 1759-1836) walked among the graves, looking at the epitaphs. He found one that arrested him.
When from the dust of death I rise,
To claim my mansion in the skies,
E’en then shall this be all my plea–
“Jesus hath lived and died for me.”
He was so impressed with that gospel message that he looked for someone in the cemetery with whom he might share it. He saw a young woman, obviously distressed, and called her over to read the epitaph. He took her address and visited her the next day. The home was a scene of poverty and squalor. The woman’s old mother was dying of asthma, and two little children, very dirty, were trying to warm themselves by a small fire. Simeon prayed with the family, visited them again, and found assistance for them. Later, the young woman told Simeon that she had been in the cemetery five hours and was contemplating suicide when he called her to read the epitaph. Because of his concern she trusted Christ and the family situation was changed.
So why is it that we fail to show such concern for others? Why do we act as though others do not exist and think of no one’s welfare but our own? Perhaps it is because we are not all that impressed with the gospel, nor thankful for the blood, nor hopeful of heaven. How else can you describe a person who never speaks to others about Christ? Stop and think about where you would be had nobody told you about Christ.
