How Real Is God To You? Part Three

By Johnny Angel

Matthew 5:[13] You are like salt for everyone on earth. But if the salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on. [14] You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, [15] and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house. [16] Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven (CEV).

ne way that we can know God is real is by observing Him work through other believers. Consider the following poem submitted by Rebecca Moriarty ([email protected]):

I Met God

I met God this morning, but I 
	didn't meet
A man with a long white beard or
	with sorrow on his face.
I didn't meet someone who judged 
	 me harshly or thought he was
So much better than I, that I could
	 not speak with him.
I didn't feel the coldness that I 
	sometimes feel when
I sit among those who worship Him
	merely out of habit.
I didn't touch someone who turned
	away the
Moment he felt my presence.
When I met God, I saw a beautful
	face in the trees and the sun;
I saw him laughing and sometimes
	weeping
As if he were displeased with what
	 he had made
I spoke to him, and he answered
	me
with the sweet sound of the birds.
I touched him and he touched me
	with the touch of love.
I met God this morning; I met him
	as a seed living
And growing inside of me.
I saww, heard and felt God this 
	morning in
Many different ways, but most 
	important of all of them,
I met him in you!

To a lost and dying world, we may be the only God or Bible that they ever see. Moreover, people who have never been to church or who aren't thinking about spiritual matters don't even know what we're talking about when we mention terms like saved and lost. To them, saved may sound like a safe play in a game. They may just associate being lost with not knowing where they are. Our lives need to be salt and light for people to know the truth.

Last night I had to do some outreach in a situation that made me feel very uncomfortable. (I do not like being in the middle of a trailer park late at night.) There was a girl there talking about her 21st birthday coming up in a few days. She was going on and on about how she is going to drink a lot on her birthday because she will be legal. But then she looked over at me and started explaining how she doesn't get drunk all the time. The only other time that I even talked to her much at all was exactly one year ago when one of my friends and I were going to play putt putt. He invited her along, and I talked about God some that night. Last night, I hadn't even mentioned God. We need to be filled with God's flavor so that the people we try to reach can sense His presence in our lives.

N Prayer, Johnny <*}}}><