Recently, I was standing outside of a restaurant waiting for my bride. (Sometimes we husbands must do that.) I was alone except for an employee of the establishment. He said “Hi” and I responded with the same. Then it dawned on me. Perhaps the Lord would have me talk with this man about His love.
I spoke to the man and he responded in a way that suggested he was eager to talk. I told him I was a Baptist pastor and he seemed surprised. The older, fatter and balder I get, the less surprised he will be. 🙂
Then I asked him a question. “Do you know what Baptists believe?” “No,” he said. “What do they believe?” I used that opportunity to tell him what the bible says about how one can have a relationship with God. I talked to him about the cross and resurrection, sin and repentance, grace and forgiveness. While he did not trust Christ as Savior and Lord that night, it was obvious he had been looking for something… for Someone. We parted ways with him promising to visit church.
It was a sweet moment and I was reminded of the joy that comes with sharing my faith. Why don’t I share my faith more often? Why don’t Christians in general share their faith more often? Some possible reasons-
1. I’m busy. I can fill my life with activity quite easily. And some of that is necessary. But the tyranny of the urgent can fill my life with so many things that I am in danger of missing something as central as sharing good news with others. Good things can keep me from great things.
2. Apathy is easy. It doesn’t take any work at all to be apathetic. It takes intentionality to share my faith. Doing nothing is the default position. Talking to others takes some effort and some guts. It is scary and dangerous- -and exciting and beautiful. Apathy misses the thrilling life of radical obedience.
3. I’m seldom encouraged to share. Evangelism is seldom spoken of in Christian circles. We are more apt to speak of mission trips (is it really a mission trip if the gospel isn’t verbalized?) and church planting (with the idea that they will be involved in sharing the gospel with the lost), etc. But not as often are we encouraged to verbally share our faith with others.
None of these reasons are adequate. Sharing my faith is both a biblical mandate (clearly!) and a natural result of the nature of this good news (beggars who find bread will want other beggars to know of this source of bread!). Maybe we just need to open our eyes and our hearts and our mouths.
Doug Munton 