The fullness of time

4:39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified, 87 “He told me everything I ever did.” 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking 88 him to stay with them. 89 He stayed there two days, 4:41 and because of his word many more 90 believed. 4:42 They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one 91 really is the Savior of the world.” 92

Today's small group really meant a lot to me. This semester is already much better than last in terms of our connecting with one another and feeling more like a family. Today we broke up into smaller groups and having only three or four people in a group really got everyone to open up far more. Although it should be common knowledge, I see now that bible study questions are a mere stepping stone to get into people's spiritual lives, that the Word will penetrate deep and change their heart, giving glory to God.

Both of the people I met with in my mini-group blew me away when they said their dads would never have gotten saved were it not for their mothers. And of course if their parents hadn't gotten together, they wouldn't even be in our church! One of them even said their dad came from a anti-christian family. The other told me of how their words to their cousin about Christ changed their life years down the road, and they never would have guessed it at the time.

Reading this passage from John 4 goes along with what I was thinking earlier, how so much in life just feels like a coincidence, and yet we take for granted that this is not really the case. Just think, how all the people in the world end up believing in many things or living their lives certain ways, and yet, with all the choices we have out there, we have come to Christ. For those of you who have grown up in the church it may not seem so astounding, but it is amazing that God is not a God of coincidence! Likewise, if we preach the gospel to everyone we meet, or at least show an unashamed love for Christ that we wear on our sleeves, just think of how many lives could be changed, even if we don't see it immediately! We need greater faith to see that God can work on any time schedule, and that it just takes a single seed to grow a massive cedar of Lebanon (and that even a cactus grows in the desert!)!