I almost hung up?! But then the Lord opened the door…

I called to deal with financial software package that had renewed automatically without notifying me. I talked with rep about ways to be notified next year before the renewal (this particular software package has been known to raise their payroll service rates between 50% and 100% in any given year!)…

She had a little bit of an accent, so I suspected she was working in an overseas call center. I worked at speaking very clearly and distinctly while I was on the phone with her.

Afterwards, she asked if I would be willing to take a short customer service survey. I asked (kidding her a bit) if we would win anything as a result. She patiently explained that it was a survey for customer satisfaction and that it only took a little while. I said that would be fine, I don’t mind taking short customer service surveys.

I prayed for the Holy Spirit to open a door, and if the opportunity presented itself, that the Spirit would convict her of sin, righteousness, and judgment. (John 16:8 And when he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment).

I then asked if she had just a minute before her next phone call came in because I had a question I wanted to ask her – but said it didn’t relate to business. She was curious and asked what the question was. I said it was a little test, and there was a moral at the end. I said if she had to go at some point it wasn’t a problem, and that it only took a few minutes.

I then asked if she had ever heard of the “Good Person” test. She paused, and hesitantly said she hadn’t. I said it was simple enough, and starts out asking if she would consider herself to be a good person. She paused, and then said “Yes, I would consider myself a good person.”

I said that is how most people view themselves… I asked if she was familiar with the ten commandments. She, again, hesitantly said she was (either she was apprehensive about the call or the possible language differences were causing her to think through each question before she was able to answer). I normally ask if a person feels they have kept all of them, some of them or none, but this time I started right into them.

She started to say that she couldn’t recall all of them, and I said it didn’t matter – we weren’t going to talk about all of them – just a few. I said the 9th commandment is that we are not supposed to lie; I asked if she had ever, in her life, told a lie, a half-truth, or an exaggeration. She had. I said I had done the same. “If we’ve both told lies, what would we be called?” I think the language barrier surfaced as she wasn’t able to quickly come up with the word, so I rather quickly supplied the “liar” term, and she readily agreed.

I said the 8th commandment is that we are not supposed to ever steal from others. I asked if she had ever, in her life, taken something from someone else without permission, even if it was something small, like a cookie from her parents or a toy from a sibling. She said she had done so – when she was young. I said I had done the same. I didn’t ask for the term, but said that we would both then be called “thieves” (and she agreed).

We talked a little about the 3rd commandment (taking God’s name in vain) and she said she had never done that – so we moved on.

Next was the 6th commandment: murder. I asked if she had ever killed someone, and she said “no” (and laughed – usually, when I ask the murder question it is a light hearted moment). I said that was good, but said there was bad news: God created us and knows our hearts and our thoughts, and that if we are even angry in our hearts towards someone God sees it as murder of the heart. I asked if she had ever been angry with others, and she quickly said yes.

I then summarized everything – saying that people would see her as a good person, and she obviously does a good job at her work, but that God would look at her heart (or mine), and see someone who is a lying, thieving, murderer at heart.

I asked if she were to die tonight and God judged her based on those ten commandments, as He says He will, would she be innocent or guilty. She said she would be guilty.

I then asked if she, being guilty, would spent eternity in heaven or hell.

She responded that God would make that decision. I readily agreed with her, but said that God, just like any fair judge and legal system, has told us exactly how He will “rule” when our case comes up. Ezekiel 18:20 – “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

I asked her if she was in the United States or another country – and she said she was in a different country. I said that her country surely had a justice system that had laws and consequences for breaking them, and that the judges were required to give out consequences. She said they did. I said that if she did something wrong in her country, even if her father was the judge, he would still be required to pass judgment on her and give her a consequence. She agreed (and I could tell, was understanding the analogy)… I said that is how it is with God. As a good Judge He is required to pass judgment on those that sin.

We talked more about the consequences of sin, and I asked if she had a Bible. She did, and used to read it when she was a student, but now with her job she was too busy. I encouraged her to get back into the Word to discover what Jesus has done for her so that she doesn’t have to spend an eternity in hell.

I outlined the plan of salvation for her, and was careful to stress the importance of surrendering her life fully to Christ; of repenting (stopping) the sinful activities that she was involved in and following Christ with her whole heart – not as so many hypocrites who go to church on Sunday but live like the world the rest of the week and are unknowingly headed for hell.

Matthew 7:21-23 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

We talked for several more minutes, and discussed several more analogies. When I felt the Spirit saying that enough had been shared, I said I was ready to go on to the customer service survey anytime. She then asked me for my e-mail address (I thought maybe to e-mail me the survey – which I had thought was on the phone) but she went on to say that she might have a spiritual question for me. I said that would be great as we have a web site with a contact form, and that my sister is probably about her age, or that my mother would love to help answer her questions.

I had also asked her if she had any Christians that she knew who were true Christians (and not hypocrites). She didn’t know of any. I asked if she knew of any Christian missionaries or pastors near her – and she said she had a friend who was a missionary in Africa. I encouraged her to get in contact with the missionary and ask her any questions she had.

I can’t fit the whole 10~15 minute conversation into a blog post – but this is the majority of it.

I was amazed at how close I came to simply saying goodbye to her and moving on to the customer satisfaction survey – without taking the time to try and share the gospel. How wonderful to see the Holy Spirit working in a heart, and to be able to the channel He used.

I wonder how many customer service phone calls I have ended without trying to share the gospel. Will their be people in hell because I didn’t take the time to share?

What about you – are you sharing? Do you have a faith to share?