Jo Bower's Blog

While I waited for a play to start,
God engineered a meeting between me and another writer.
We encouraged each other in our efforts.
“You know those writers who insist they write only for themselves,
And they don’t care if anyone else ever reads it?” he asked.
I nodded, having heard that from someone.
“They lie,” he asserted. “We write, hoping someone will read it.
We write because we want to share.”

“And they went out and preached everywhere….” Is the closing section of Matthew’s Gospel.
“Go into the world and preach the Gospel….” Is from Mark’s closing.
Many people interpret it “As you go…”
And that came to mind as I thought about my fellow writer’s words.
I go into my room and read, meditate, write, pray
And do all those meditative things in communication with God.
Growth is the result, and that is good. However, that’s but part of it.
Some where in me is the assurance I will share it with someone else.

Indeed, we long to tell someone about what God has done and is still doing.
What he has done in the past gives us courage to take hold and, with confidence, stride into the future.
An odd thing happens when we share this with someone:
Not only is someone else’s faith encouraged, we suddenly have another growth spurt.
And if we do not share anything with anyone,
We become lopsided Christians,
And eventually cease growing.
Private faith practiced is essential, yet we do so because we long to share it with someone.

To help someone.
To help someone see God’s glory,
To invite someoneWorship God,
To be an instrument of God for the benefit of others,
To see lives changed,
To share God’s grace to all,
We long to make a difference so, in preparation, we spend hours alone with God,
Because we long to have someone ‘read’ our faith.

Go into into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole world. Mark 16: 15