My upbringing and Bible school training taught me that evangelism was the greatest task of the believer, and I was “less than” if I didn’t share the gospel with every person in my path (whether they were interested or not). Guilt, fear, and condemnation dogged me for years if I passed up an opportunity to corner everyone I met with the facts of salvation.
But one day, I saw this metaphor to explain why I don’t feel compelled to be a “soulwinner.”
This world is a microcosm of sick and well people. Those who are called to be evangelists are the midwives in God’s kingdom, while I am trained as a surgical nurse. I’m not the surgeon. I’m the technician who hands Jesus the instruments to do His job. And the more skilled and efficient I am, the smoother His job. It’s not that I don’t get excited when another baby is brought into the world, it’s just that I spend my days working in the O.R. Whether an administrator, the sanitation officer, or the chaplain who works with hospice, we’re all called to do our job for the good of our patients in this great hospital of life.
There are different kinds of gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit Who gives them. There are different kinds of work to be done for the kingdom, but the work is for the same Lord. There are different ways of doing His work, but it is the same God who uses all these ways in all people. The Holy Spirit works in each person in one way or another for the good of all (I Corinthians 12:4-7 NLV).
