Let me clarify.
We made it our goal and heart to love these people well and befriend them and eat with them and care for them, first and foremost. We've done this well and have loved every second of it and this definitely 'shares Jesus', which is great... But what I mean is the next step where we actually TELL them about Jesus. Like, with our words. Ha. The no talking stuff comes really easy for us. But lately I'm feeling pretty ansey about the necessity in using words, too.
I think a lot of us get tripped up here. Because we know our ability to cook dinner well enough or to chat about life and new babies or whatever else, but we don't always feel confident in our ability to share the gospel verbally. Ben and I struggle with this, for sure. At one point Ben said out loud "God, please don't make me witness to them!" Haha. It was said in humor and it got a good laugh, but at the root of things that's really true about us. And I think a lot of the reason for this is that we haven't had much practice using our words. At least that's my and Ben's hang up.
So we're just not confident. And the other thing for us is fear. How will they respond when I tell them I love and serve the God who created this world, died on the cross and rose again? What will they think of me when I tell them I base my entire life on these beliefs? Will this conversation make things awkward and ruin our relationship from here on out?
But here's where I'm at with it right now. I'm remembering that #1, God doesn't ask us to be smart or super articulate or to have the Bible memorized. He just asks us to preach the good news. And #2, it's totally not on our shoulders to say the right thing, anyway. It's the Spirit working in the hearer's hearts that's going to do the convincing. Not me.
Reading 1st Corinthians 1:18-2:5 the other day has got me pumped up about this. You should go read it :) But basically the message from Paul is that even though he wasn't one of Christ's disciples, he couldn't speak well and he didn't know all there was to know about the gospel, he still saw lives changed by his words and people come to know Christ because of the message he preached. Because that's how God works. He chooses the foolish and weak and lowly things to get His message across. Paul even says that he resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Even I know that much!
It doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it should be simple. I think sometimes God just wants us to start talking and see where He takes it.
So now my prayer is that The Lord would give me boldness to speak and opportunities to share the very specific aspects of His gospel that are so important! I'm praying that our neighbors would be provoked to ask us questions, but maybe even more that we would be provoked to ask THEM questions. I believe The Lord wants a handful of our new people- if not all of them- to hear the message of His cross, the joy of salvation and their future hope in Him. And I believe that it is more than important enough for me to be vocal about- whether it makes me uncomfortable or not. But to be honest, the more I pray about this the less uncomfortable I feel because I believe it's making me more passionate about the gospel getting out there and The Lord using me as a means to do so. It's kindof exciting, even!
I listened to a short story from Beth Moore on YouTube today (check it out) that I think speaks well to our actions and words going hand in hand. She calls it the hairbrush story and I think it's a good example of how He really wants to see us use both.
Yes, the gospel is shared by actions, but double yes the gospel is shared by words! And I want to grow in my sharing of words :)
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