Living Intentionally: Lessons from Sri Lanka

What does it look like to live intentionally for the gospel? What does it look like to live the Great Commission out in even the little moments, the ordinary, mundane tasks?

Sometimes in the church we talk a lot of theory about sharing the gospel and living in such a way that people want to know what is different about us and taking every opportunity to use our words to share, but we don’t always talk about what that looks like practically.

I am blessed to be a part of a group of likeminded people meeting together every Wednesday. Not only are we meeting to encourage one another and to fellowship, we are meeting with the express purpose to spur one another on to greater gospel intentionality and effectiveness. Every week, we ask each other how we have been obedient, if we had a chance to share with someone or to pray with someone who is not a believer. The past few weeks we have learned a couple of super practical things about sharing the gospel and about discipling those who come to faith. This group has truly, truly been a blessing to me and has stretched my understanding of what it means to live with gospel intentionality.

One Wednesday, we were meeting together and someone had ordered Pizza for dinner. When the pizza delivery arrived, two from our group went out to retrieve the pizza. While they were there, they asked the delivery driver if there was any way that our group could pray for him. It was something like this: “We usually pray before we eat, is there any way that we can pray for you tonight?” The man was shocked. No one had ever asked him that before. He shared something and one of our group took down his phone number and passed it on to another guy in the group to have him follow up. That was four or five weeks ago now, and this guy from our group is still in contact with the pizza man, calling him every so often to check on him, pray with him, and share with him.

Here is another example of the fruit of just asking that simple question How can I pray for you? We were on vacation with a couple from our fellowship group. We were hiking a trail to and from a waterfall in the mountains. Our hike took us through a village. We stopped at a little shop alongside the trail, where the lady served us tea, roti and curry. We had two in our group who speak the local language, so before we left we asked her how we could pray for her. Asking that question led into sharing with her about Jesus, because she shared with us that her husband and daughter were in poor health and she had no hope for tomorrow. Someone in our group asked if she had ever heard about Jesus, to which she replied that no, she had not. So he got to take a few minutes and share with her! There were tears streaming down her face as she listened. We didn’t get any way to contact her in the future, but the guy who shared with her has a cousin who lives in the city nearby that village and he asked if his cousin could stop by at some point to follow up with this lady.

Another thing I’ve noticed that a lot of the people in this fellowship group will do while they are out is give a simple “God bless you” to taxi drivers, store clerks, and others they meet along the way. It may not spark any further conversation that day, but perhaps it will plant a seed in their heart. This is something I try to keep in mind when I go to do shopping. I don’t know enough of the local language to pray for someone, much less to share the gospel or to understand their story. But I do know “God bless you,” and I can remember to say that before I leave my taxi or the store. Even while I write this I am reminded that I need to be more intentional about doing this.

I think one of the big things I’ve learned is that living intentionally is not always easy or convenient, but it is rewarding. It’s not convenient to give up time to ask the owner of the Bed and Breakfast if we can pray for him before we take off. It’s not easy to remember to always be living on the lookout for opportunities. It is not easy to follow the prompting of the Spirit when you are exhausted.

But it is rewarding. You may not see someone come to faith because of your encounter, but you do know that seeds have been planted. God promises that his word will not return void to him. Something will happen because of the little bit that you shared. Perhaps you will encourage a hurting woman. Perhaps you will continue to be in contact with a man who needs prayer. Perhaps someone will open up and share about their background with you and you can meet them there with the gospel.

One final thing I wanted to share is that living with intentionality always starts with prayer. Abundant prayer. We spend a pretty significant amount of time praying together in our fellowship group. We encourage one another to keep in prayer throughout the week. Pray for opportunities, pray for boldness to take them, pray for fruit. God will bless those kinds of prayer.

How are you going to be intentional today?