“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker
who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” —2
Timothy 2:15
“If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs,
work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the
blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God
to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation
when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through
God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment,
and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come
when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else.
But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to
express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone
else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to
yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be
allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.”
(1 Peter 3:15) “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,
and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the
hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”
Many books have been written, many programs have been
formulated, many methods devised … all with the expressed purpose of helping
Christians share the Gospel with others. The idea of sharing their faith with someone
is troublesome for many Christians. We
can tell someone about our trip to the beach or about the last football game we
watched, but when it comes to talking about Jesus … we stumble … get sweaty
palms …. clam up. The one thing that we
should be most passionate about, we struggle with. Don’t you find that interesting? The reason,
I think, is there is not eternal consequence associated with football or the
beach, but there is with Jesus.
The truth is our responsibility is not to have a slick
presentation of the Gospel so that we might convince people. Our responsibility is to present the Gospel as
it is in the Bible … share our lives and, hopefully, our passion for Jesus and
let God do the eternal part .. the saving.
It seems to me that it would be much easier to talk to others about our
faith if we understood that we are not responsible for the decision that the
hearer will make with regard to what they hear.
I don’t know the number of times, my family shared the Gospel with me,
until, one day, I knew I needed Jesus. That was about a seven year process.
If you are not confident about what to say …. study the Book
of John, Acts and Romans as a starter … there is no magic formula .. the Gospel
is simple … the process is a mystery … your job is to be ready … the Lord will
give you opportunity …
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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