Who have you left behind?

// September 30th, 2009 // Faith, Life

Just listened to the last sermon in the Go Fish series by Andy Stanley at North Point. The series blew me away and to be honest I found it by “accident”. I love it when God uses the most random things to speak to us. I only listened to this series because I subscribed to the wrong podcast. I failed in my attempt to subscribe to the weekly North Point podcast and instead subscribed to some sort of best of Andy Stanley weekly podcast. But this mistake was God-given and occurred right on time. It allowed me to encourage someone close to me who was going through a tough time and needed to hear exactly what Andy was talking about. I love sharing those little moments on here so I don’t forget them and I have a record of how God’s faithfulness and answered prayers.

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Anyway, the last sermon got me. Here was the question, “Who have you left behind?” When you became a Christian, you changed. You started spending your time differently, made new friends. You got so caught up in everything new and exciting that was going on in your life that you never looked back, and you probably actively avoided some of those old friends and old places you used to spend your time (and for good reason). But remember that someone reached out to you in that same situation. By God’s grace you were changed but it is so tempting to look at people and say I changed but so and so never could. If Paul changed, anybody can.

I know this is true of me. As I’ve continued to grow and put my past life in the rearview mirror, I’ve not only distanced myself from the places I used to go and the things I used to do but from the people I was friends with. That makes me a little sad, not nostalgic for my past life but stung by the fact that God has uniquely positioned me in the lives of certain people and rather than sharing the joy and passion I’ve found, I’ve distanced myself. I know even from a distance that how I have changed has effected some of these people but at the same time, I’ve missed opportunities. I need to be more intentional.

Who have you left behind? In whose life has God uniquely positioned you to share life with that person? What are you waiting for? ;)

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6 Responses to “Who have you left behind?”

  1. Annette Taylor says:
    September 30, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    I loved this series of sermons…they really tell a great message about our mission of being fishers of men. It's truly inspiring. It's not always an easy mission, but as they put it in one of the sermons, we found out about Jesus because some one told us so we have a responsibility to tell others too.

    Reply
  2. Candy says:
    September 30, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    Andy is absolutely one of my favorites when it comes to driving home a message – I never miss his podcasts. "Who have you left behind" resonates so much with me right now. There are a few people I need to "go back and get" and I hope they come with me. I've been a Christian a very long time, but It's a life-long pursuit to become fishers of (wo)men. And it's so gratifying to see Christ-like changes in the people you love.

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    • chrissulli says:
      October 1, 2009 at 10:32 pm

      Really enjoy Andy's sermons. Visited Buckhead a couple times but never Northpoint. There are definitely some people I just gave up on and moved on with my life or stayed friends with but stopped fishing.

      Reply
  3. FaithBarista Bonnie says:
    October 1, 2009 at 9:12 pm

    So cool when God does that – places something on our path and makes it look accidental. I'm sure He chuckles when He does that.

    I had been praying for more Christian friends, when I realized the majority of the people I hang out with on a daily basis is predominantly non-believers. Is there something wrong with me? I wondered. Duh!?!, God said to me. "Enjoy your friendships and get busy living and loving." I'm so dense. ;)

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    • chrissulli says:
      October 1, 2009 at 10:44 pm

      Love when he does that.

      My primary problem is that I was in a situation where everyone worked all the time. There wasn't that much free time. So hang out pretty much strictly meant going to bars and clubs on the weekend. Since that was the primary time for hanging out it rally distanced me from those relationships because that just wasn't the level on which I wanted to be interacting.

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