A Person With an Envelope

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden." (Matthew 11:28)

Have you ever considered that the gospel is an invitation? Don’t we all like getting one in the mail? Remember, as a child, being invited to a party. The envelope with your name on it. The feeling of being included, wanted, one of the ones they thought of. And remember the other side, having the resources to invite others to yours, setting out the food, watching people come and surround you and celebrate.

That is the gospel. You have been invited. Your name is on it. Someone thought of you. And you have been handed resources to invite others, and the table is enormous, and the celebration has already started, and the host is not worried about running out.

We have made evangelism into a confrontation, a debate, a sales technique, a set of memorized steps, and no wonder we dread it and no wonder people flee it. But it was never any of those things. It is a person with an envelope, walking up to another person, and saying, there is a feast, and there is room, and your name is on one of these. Would you like to come? Stop bracing for an argument you were never asked to win. You are not a prosecutor. You are a guest who has been given a stack of invitations.