So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
—Romans 10:17
I’ll never forget when they first introduced that feature on the phone called call waiting. You’d be in the middle of a conversation when suddenly you’d hear it, click-click, meaning someone else was trying to reach you. This was before caller ID, so you never knew who was on the other line.
That little click frustrated the daylights out of me at first. I could hardly carry on a conversation without that annoying interruption. So, most of the time, I’d just ignore the call and hope the person would try me again later.
In the way Jesus described reaching the lost, I see something similar. People are going about their ordinary day when suddenly there comes a kind of click-click, an interruption from heaven. It might be a sudden sense of God’s presence. It might be the gentle encouragement of a Christian friend. It might be a verse of Scripture that lodges in their mind and won’t leave. Something breaks into the routine and signals that God is calling.
And this is precisely how faith works, according to our verse: “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith doesn’t materialize out of thin air. It comes through hearing the message about Jesus. Every time you share God’s truth with someone, you’re placing a call, you’re sending that click-click into their life, the very thing the Spirit uses to awaken faith.
Here’s what that means for us, and it’s freeing. Our job is to make the call, to share the word of Christ faithfully, lovingly, persistently. But we cannot make a person pick up. We cannot force anyone to respond. That part belongs to God and to the work of His Spirit in their heart.
So, keep calling. Keep sharing God’s love and truth with the lost people in your life, the family member who keeps changing the subject, the coworker who shrugs it off, the friend who isn’t ready yet. Don’t give up because they didn’t pick up the first time. Faith comes by hearing, and they may need to hear it again, and again, before the Spirit opens their heart to answer.
FAITH COMES BY HEARING. YOUR JOB IS TO KEEP MAKING THE CALL AND PRAY THAT GOD GIVES THE LOST THE WILL TO RESPOND.
