When to Share Your Faith

When to Share Your Faith … And When To Seal Your Lips

I remember the first time a college professor made fun of my faith. I was taking a history class at a small community college, but the professor spent more time talking about his atheistic beliefs than World Civilizations. He would work jabs against Christianity into every lecture. I’d sit there and squirm. I wanted to say something, anything, to make him see the error in his ways.

Finally, half-way through the semester I got up the nerve to say something to the professor. I raised my hand and made a comment about evidence of God’s hand in history. The professor listened for ten seconds, laughed, and then he continued on with his comments. I was embarrassed, and I never spoke up again. Looking back, that incident impacted me. It made me fearful of sharing my faith. I didn’t want to be embarrassed, and I got used to keeping my thoughts to myself.

It was only years later that I realized that Jesus understood and dealt with the same thing.

In Luke, Chapter 20, we see incident after incident of those who were trying to trap Jesus, to discredit him, and to make Jesus look bad in the eyes of the people. Jesus didn’t spout off volumes of truth, proving them wrong. Verse 8 says, “And Jesus responded, ‘Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things,’” (NLT).

Jesus knew what I learned—there are some people whose minds will not be changed no matter what we say. They have hard hearts. They listen only to come up with a rebuttal.

As Proverbs 26:4 says, “Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are” (NLT).

Jesus talks about this again in Matthew 7:6: “”Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you” (NLT).

If you come up against someone like my professor you may want to share your faith, but if that doesn’t work out don’t let it stop you from reaching out to others who have softer hearts.

When to Share

As a mom of six children, one of my greatest desires has been to raise kids who can share their faith. John and I have taken our kids on mission trips. We’ve encouraged them to be shining beacons wherever they are. We’ve taught them how to share their faith by knowing what to look for.

How can they do that? By going through these steps when reaching out to others:

Get them to trust you as a Christian.
Get them curious about Jesus.
Get them to ask questions.
Get them to consider making changes in their own lives.
Invite them to have a personal relationship with Jesus.*
Jesus knew that there were some people who wanted to hurt him, to kill him. Yet He was always on the lookout for those with seeking hearts.

In your own life, know that there will be times when sharing your faith will not be easy or fruitful. There will be times when your words will bounce off hard hearts.

Instead of being discouraged, like Jesus, look for those who trust you, are curious and ask questions. Those are the people worth spending time with. The time you spend with soft-hearted people will hopefully reap eternal rewards!

*These principles are taken from the book I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus by Don Everts and Doug Schnapps

Deep and Wide

One of my favorite Sunday School songs growing up was "Deep and Wide."

Deep and wide, deep and wide. There's a fountain flowing deep and wide. I loved the hand motions, although at the time I don't think I truly understood what the song meant.

Lately, I've been discovering even more how deep and wide God's goodness is. The wide has been obvious to those peeking in on my life. God has opened the doors in numerous arenas for me. In the last month I've found myself speaking to teens about purity and to teen moms about praying for their future husbands. I've worked on different writing projects, all at different stages of the process. I've made new friends and have spent quality time with my family. And through it all, the wideness of God has covered every part. His joy and strength have filled me as I've worked and served. The reason?

The reason is because I'm discovering the deepness of God. How endless His love is. How all-consuming His truth. The more I discover about Him, the more I want to know. The more I sink into Him, the more I know I'm just scratching the surface.

I've also learned something else, and that is the important of "narrow." (I couldn't think of a narrow song!) To me, narrow is choosing the thin path--a path that's harder to walk than the broad, go-with-the-flow way. I walk the narrow way by disciplining myself, focusing on God, and not leaving the path. God is with me on the narrow way. His one step ahead, leading me.

No, this is not a lesson on geometry (I'm not a math girl), but rather about space. As I give every space in my heart to God I've discovered He takes me to new places . . . deep, wide and narrow. Each has challenges of its own, but the rewards are worth every step!

Photo credit: Image courtesy of kai4107 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Thorns

I have two cats that I call my camo-kitties. Their colors help them blend into our country setting. Gives them a survival advantage. Summer means that every day my cats bring in hundreds of little weed stickers clinging to their fur. Many get into the carpet and blend in. If I don’t catch the stickers with the vacuum cleaner, guaranteed my bare feet will find their sharp, painful thorns.

Not fun. But these are small. I can easily remove them.

There are thorns not so easily dealt with. The Greek word used for the thorns Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 12 is skolops, meaning “something pointed and sharp that causes severe pain and is a constant irritation.”

Really not fun.

Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” seemed to cause unrelenting pain and distress. Maybe it was a frustrating limitation or an illness, maybe what was viewed as a physical defect. We don’t know, but we get the sense it was something that was a difficult and constant companion.

As a teen I had plenty of difficult and constant companions I wanted to shake. My quietness (no longer a problem!). My parents' divorce and the pain and struggles that went with it. My move to another state leaving good friends far behind. My mixed-up relationship with my father. My height and wishing I were taller. My easy tears. My . . . I could keep adding to the list.

In the Bible we aren’t given many details beyond the words, “thorn in the flesh.” Ever wonder why God left the details out? I’d love to hear your take on that.

I kinda think it might be because he thought of each of us. Our thorns would be different from Paul’s. The mystery of his makes the possibilities limitless of how God might work in each of our lives through our own unique painful and frustrating thorn.

I see his love in that.

www.choosetolivefree.com
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Live Powerfully

This week I was in Nashville at the Children's Pastors' Conference (next month-San Diego), speaking and having conversations about ministry to preteens. I came away with an even greater burden on my heart--the huge need to reach that age range and root them solidly in Christ.

As I write this, I'm wondering about you--who God is creating you to be, the strengths and gifts he has given you, and maybe, just maybe the opportunities to use those gifts and strengths to teach and encourage others younger than yourself.

1 Timothy 4:12 says, "And don't let anyone put you down because you're young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity" (The Message).

Take that verse apart, really think and pray about it, and ask God to put it together in your life. You can make a powerful difference.

Just a thought. What do you think?

I'll close with my verse for 2009 (a long-time favorite): "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him--that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly" (Philippians 3:10 Amplified Version).

Live powerfully for Christ in 2009. Let me know how it's going.

Jan
author of the Live Free series, Standard Publishing

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