Recently there was an unusual situation where my heart burned to talk to someone about Christ but was not able to in this particular situation. I won’t go into the details here, but it was quite challenging to speak truth over desperation without referencing words from my faith. It made me wonder how people share their faith in places where they can’t freely quote scripture or speak the name of Jesus or God. Is there an effective way to preach the goodness of God and use no words?

It is said that living out your belief is so much bigger than mere words. And this isn’t said to chain us to rule-following performance. Performances are just that. They have an end. We can behave ourselves for only so long because we are easily broken and our real heart eventually shows. We are simply clay vessels. So how can clay pots show Jesus to a broken world other than rule-following and scripture quoting? How can we be transformed from clay to the embodiment of Christ so that we naturally reflect his glory? This scripture from Paul to the Corinthian church teaches how this is done. I love this translation by Eugene Peterson in The Message Bible.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG. Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are-face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

We must develop a closeness to God to reflect his glory. We cannot show Christ-likeness by that old constricting, rule-following lifestyle. And that is such a relief! That is true freedom! To me, this says that the only thing we need to do is to encounter God personally and frequently in a relationship. Also note that this change from clay to Christ-likeness is gradual, not a one-and-done thing.

How do we encounter God? It is really quite simple. If we know how to make friends, we know how to encounter God. And just like making friends, we have to push past the awkward and put ourselves out there. Unlike people, God never rejects those who want to be with him. To develop any relationship, we must let go of some things on our calendar and schedule regular time to be together. If we give God our precious time we will have the privilege of a growing relationship with him.

There are many books written about ways to encounter God but the most noted way is solitude and Bible reading. One thing is for sure: there is no specific place, time or method to experiencing God’s presence. If your mind is on things above, you are opening the door to let God in.

I have noticed that by removing hurry from my life’s equation there are so many more chances to encounter God. And the best way to do that is to schedule in “margin”. Margin is time in your day with nothing scheduled. Margin can also be one lovely day of the week where you ditch all your obligations. This isn’t a new concept. You will find it in those Ten Commandments. (We often think of it as nine commandments and one Sabbath suggestion.) It is the one commandment we feel free to break without being fired from our job or reprimanded in any way. Jesus often took the time to retreat to a quiet place to talk to His Father, yet he accomplished changing the world in three short years so surely we could take ten minutes a day in our busy schedule to be still. And in addition, maybe we can learn to take one day a week without work or phone obligations.

We think to become more like Christ we must add to our calendar. But in reality, we were never asked to check items off of a list to become like Christ. Counterintuitively, we must let go of our perfect performance to reflect his glory to a broken world. To become a vessel of Christ, is to relax and take time to encounter Him.

Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face.

The Message