People who are too open?

Lately I have had the privilege to spend more time out on campus giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to students. Last Friday I had the opportunity to talk with three freshman students at the plaza of the Americas ( large field at the University of Florida). I was with another student and we approached them and asked them this question: "What do you think happens after someone dies?". They were immediately interested in the question and all three of the students began to give their thoughts. I don't exactly remember what they said about the afterlife but I remember trying to swing the conversation to what the Bible says about the afterlife. I had a bit of a bumpy start to getting there because one of the students had a phone call. After he got off of the phone I began to explain about heaven and hell, God's Judgment, the Ten Commandments and so on. As soon as I got into the Ten Commandments the students began to ask many questions about the commandments themselves and more about the afterlife. I was beginning to feel derailed from the point which I wanted to reach. It felt like a question or a thought would just continually come up when I was trying to talk about the need for God's forgiveness. These students were very open and so open that it was hard to get my point across about Jesus Christ, His death, and His resurrection. It seemed like they kept asking questions! But I wanted to be courteous, and listen to them. Finally I was able to go into the gospel, and what the bible says about the afterlife. The students wanted to justify themselves and say that they were good, but I reiterated the fact that we are not good (Romans 3:10) and that all of our good deeds are filth to God (Isaiah 64:6). The conversation lasted about 1 hour, and they told us that they learned a lot in our conversation.
I looked back at this and see that it is good to get people who may seem "too open" and want to talk a lot during the conversation about Christ. It is wise to be careful to listen to them to see where they are coming from out of love, and so that you can better address the person's need for Christ! However, be careful that you don't let the conversation be taken too far off course with religious speculation or thoughts about what might be out there when we die. Keep the conversation on course about our need for the gospel and the gospel itself!

I will put up some more encounters soon! Until next time!