Will You Be Surprised?

Will you be surprised?

Will you be surprised by who you will see in heaven?

Last week, my son and I were picking up some furniture being donated to our ministry to help people.  As I was backing into the parking space, out of nowhere or so it seemed, a young man in his 20's comes up to the truck and says he needs help.  He hadn't eaten in days and had been wandering for a few days.

I immediately invited him to help us load up the furniture and then we would head somewhere to get some food.  He was a big help in loading the furniture.  

After we left, he shared more of his story with Elijah and I.  He asked if I had any work for him to do to earn some money.  During this time, I realized that he needed rest more than even food, so Elijah and I went and got him a hotel room.  We would be back the next day to pick him up and he could help us mow some lawns in payment for the hotel.

The next day, I picked him up and he helped us do some mowing.  I got a glimpse of the hellish life that he had been living.  Drugs, jail, mental illness, and bad relationships seemed to illustrate his life at this point.  This guy was literally living hell on earth and it got me to thinking, "If this is hell on earth, where he is heading is going to be worse.  The life he is living here is a cakewalk compared to the unimaginable constant tragedy, pain, and hell he will face for eternity."

My heart empathized with his life.  My heart empathized with his possible future that he was facing not just here on earth, but for eternity.

As I took him to his drop off point to meet a friend, I shared the amazing fact that Jesus loves him and invited him to surrender his life to Jesus and seek forgiveness.

I wish I could say he did that.  I wish I could say it was one of those moments that gave me warm fuzzies.  I wish I could say that it was one of these out of the ordinary God moments that happened on highway 75, but it didn't.  There was blame, there were accusations towards me, there was anger...his heart was so cold to the love of Christ, he couldn't see the truth of Romans 5:8, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  The enemy had kidnapped him and I had to recognize who was behind this spiritual attack.

I am not going to lie, it was a deeply emotional exhausting situation and I felt threatened.  My heart wanted for him to be saved from this earthly and eternal hell.

I have to go back to what the Word of God says, 
"What then is Apollos?  What is Paul?  They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.  We are God's coworkers.  You are God's field, God's building."
1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Will I be surprised to see my friend in heaven?  I hope so.  I hope that the seed that was planted will grow.  I pray that God will use someone to water the seed that was planted.  I pray that I will be surprised to see him in heaven.

You see, our responsibility is not the response of an individual.  Our responsibility is to plant the seed--start the conversation.  God's going to grow it.  We need more planters.  We need more waterers.  

I pray that through simple obedience he will be delivered from this earthly and eternal hell.

How about you?  Is there someone that you are going to be surprised to see in heaven because of your obedience?  Maybe they didn't receive salvation at that very moment, but you planted the seed.  

Can you imagine in eternity, the faces you will see that you planted the seed in?  What an incredible celebration that will be: 

• To talk through what happened after that initial conversation of planting the Gospel seed. 
• To talk through the miraculous way that God eventually saved them. 
• To see them worship the ONE who they initially turned down.

I can only imagine.

To my friend, I am praying for you.  I am praying that "water-ers" will come your way.  I most likely will not see you again on this side of heaven, but I  am praying that I am going to be surprised in heaven.