Blocked & Ignored 📵
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe..." ~ Ephesians 1:18-19a
You've probably experienced this, where you keep getting unwanted tweets or WhatsApp messages from someone.
Perhaps it's someone that you know, or maybe it's from a complete stranger. Oftentimes, you don't even read the messages they are sending you (and sometimes you wonder if they've even read it themselves)... but you just know that it's not something you'd be interested in.
You may tolerate these digital intrusions for a while, but eventually comes that decisive action to click, then block, or unfollow, or un-friend, or ignore or whatever it is called, depending on the particular social network or app.
In life, there are a lot of people who actually haven't heard the message of the Gospel. They think they have, but they have not. These aren't people who have chosen outright to reject the Word of God... they've just (maybe even subconsciously) chosen to ignore it.
Like unwanted social media advances, many people will choose to ignore the river of news that gushes by their online (and offline) feed, without taking so much as a curious peek... if it's packaged in a format that doesn't appeal to them or they've just grown accustomed to ignoring certain "spiritual" messages.
If you are such a person, then take a moment to realize that you could be doing yourself a real disservice not taking the timeout to listen, really listen... when life-saving information comes your way. You could be missing out on some life-giving nugget of wisdom.
If you're a believer in Jesus, then realize that we should aim to package our messages properly for the ones that we're trying to reach.
Some people like things gift-wrapped, some like gift bags and some like gift baskets. They can all contain a valuable, needed and appreciated gift... the packaging is just different.
Lovingly and prayerful prepare your gift of the Gospel message and share it with someone who doesn't need to be separated from God, for all eternity.
If you take time to speak the language of the hearer, you'll find that God will open doors that you didn't even realize were doors. God will open hearts that you thought were made of stone... and you'll find you might not end up Blocked & Ignored.