Disciple to Faithਨਮੂਨਾ

Person of Peace

We know that Jesus lived with His radar up and was guided by the Holy Spirit, and when He sent out His disciples to preach the good news, Jesus gave us further insight into how to recognise where God may already be at work in the lives of people around us. He told His 72 disciples to discern whether or not the person in a house they entered was a ‘person of peace’. If they were, the disciples were to stay there, eating and drinking what the host offered, because hospitality can be a sign of God softening people’s hearts in readiness for the gospel. The hallmarks of a person of peace are that they like you, listen to you, and want to serve you. When that trifecta shows up in a relationship, pay attention. Even now, God may be revealing a person of peace to you – an unbelieving acquaintance, coworker, teammate, or friend who ticks all three of those boxes.

The wonderful thing about simply being on the lookout for a person of peace is that, even if you’re not a natural evangelist, you can still be a disciple-maker. What’s more, a person of peace isn’t generic. They’re personal to you. They like you. God is at work in your relational networks, on your street, in your workplace. Through a particular combination of chemistry, timing, and proximity, you’re the unique conduit of God’s life and love to the people of peace around you. God has placed you – not someone else – in the lives of those people, and this is a big deal!

When it comes to discipling a person of peace to faith, timing is everything. When Jesus says, ‘The time has come…’, He’s talking about Kairos time, not Chronos time. Kairos time refers to a key moment – a particular point in time or a unique opportunity. These are the times when you experience a strong prompting of the Holy Spirit – a now-or-never compulsion – to share something or ask a question, but we can so easily miss a Kairos moment if we don’t act as soon as God speaks. There may be something happening in that person’s life now – and if we don’t risk speaking up now, we may forever miss that moment to minister to them.

Take time today to identify a person of peace in your life. Thank God for the unique opportunity you have to disciple this person to faith as you take courage and pay attention to the perfectly-on-time promptings of the Holy Spirit.