The Strands of the Web

When we share Christ with someone, love someone in the Lord, or proclaim His Name, we are dropping seeds all along the way.  We never really know how it works except that it is the power of the Gospel.  Paul described it many times as 'the mystery.'  How ever it happens, it works.  God chooses to bless when we share His Message.  I love what Jesus said about the farmer who throws the seed and then goes to bed.  Mark 4:27- He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. (www.lifejournal.cc)  So it is with the Gospel. 
I had a seminary professor describe it as a web.  Like a spider web catches his prey, the Lord has a way of webbing around someone to help him catch the Gospel.  The first hit could be an overheard conversation that proclaims the Lord.  The same fellow that heard that conversation goes home and turns on the television and just for a moment hears a message of the hope of the Gospel.  These two fragments of the Gospel link together in his mind and heart.  He then reads something about the love of God, gets an invitation to church, hears someone speaking of their salvation, and then hears a Christian song.    All of these little pieces begin to link up around him like the strands of a spider's web.  He is being drawn in by the power of the Gospel.  The fellow goes to church just to check it out.  He hears the Gospel message and responds at the invitation and gives his life to the Lord.  Was it the preacher that 'did' it? No, it was the web of the Gospel influence that really did it.  It was the power of the Gospel faithfully lived out that did it.  Like the farmer from Mark, we know not how.   Never underestimate the 'strands' that you leave in lives that help them to be changed by the Gospel.  We don't really know how, except by His Grace, in His Power, and for His Cause. 
Leave a strand today.  Help build the web in someone's life.