During our last two weeks in Costa Rica, we were given the opportunity to evangelize in the beach town of Puerto Viejo. Evangelism seems very daunting a lot of times. It usually starts out with me asking them a question or two to break the ice and then as I like to say it, I pop the question, “Do you know Jesus?” or, “What do you think about Jesus?” Some people have said yes, and I ask how I can pray for them and do so. Others have talked to me about good energy and bad energy. 

One day while I was walking the streets, I came upon two men who were well advanced in their years. One had a joint in hand, the other was drinking something out of a bag, and by our conversation it’d seemed they’d lived on the street for a while. I approached them, an eighteen year old, white kid from America, and inquired about their lives just to get an entryway into the question that I longed to ask. They didn’t seem to care to talk about life after death, or other topics that I’d picked and pryed at. I basically began to preach to them. The response that I got? They mocked and laughed at me. As I reflected on that moment, I realized I lacked something. I didn’t seek to understand them or love them. It was more of a task. Evangelize. In essence, yes, we are called to make disciples of all nations, but without love it is nothing. 

A few days later, I read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days by the time that Jesus had arrived at Bethany. When Jesus calls Mary to come to Him, she runs out to Him and falls at His feet saying, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus doesn’t reply or ask, “How dare you doubt my authority?” He sees her and the fellow Jews weeping and He weeps with them. He seeks to understand and loves them where they’re at. Then, Jesus does the unimaginable. He goes to the tomb and what He says to God blows my mind. He says, “But I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. Lazarus, come out.” The man who’d been dead for the past four days walks out of the tomb alive! The Lord performs miracles through Jesus so that we would believe in Him! God loves us so much that He wants to make Himself known to us in tangible ways, so that we would have eternal life with Him. His love for me makes me want to love others the way He loves. I don’t deserve it, but He does it anyways because it’s His character. God is love. In the same way we need to love God and love others, just as Jesus did.