When Jesus left the disciples, he commissioned them (and us) the most important job ever…which ultimately is to go and share the reason for the hope we have; We once were lost, but now are found, we once were dead, but now we live. We owe it all to Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to pay our debt, and in conquering death, he has made a way for all who believe in him to have eternal life! What a HOPE and JOY we have!!
Recently I have heard about the church in Florida that is planning to hold book burnings of the Quran on September 11th. This greatly disturbed me. I have no idea what they hope to accomplish through this malicious act. I STRONGLY STRONGLY STRONGLY discourage anyone who is even considering to join them. Nothing good whatsoever can come of it. And it is only making more negative media about Christians. As I was thinking about this, the Scripture 1 Peter 3:15 came to mind. It explains that we should always be prepared to share the hope we have, but in GENTLENESS and RESPECT. What that church hopes to do is neither gentle, nor respectful.
In light of this, I have been thinking about the following:
- How do we share the Gospel (our hope) effectively?
Well, I tell you, it goes FAR beyond words and speech; to be honest, those are actually the just last part of it. Where it starts is in how we live our lives, and the actions we make. Our words and speech are no good whatsoever if our lives and actions do not back them up.
- How can we live our lives to spread the gospel (our hope)?
Well, this topic could really fill up hundreds of libraries worth of books…but the short of it is that our lives should reflect the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23, which ultimately reflect Jesus himself. And to sum it up even shorter, we simply need to; 1st) Love God with all that we are, and 2nd) Love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). Everything else will follow correctly if we have those two things right.
One thing we always need to remember is that sharing our hope effectively is always done with GENTLENESS and RESPECT.
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect… – 1 Peter 3:15
We will never win a heart over by insulting someone or their religion (or lack-there-of). Winning a heart over for Jesus is done in, and through, LOVE. Love is the most important aspect of sharing our faith (1 Corinthians 13:1-3), because it was through love we were saved in the first place.
So I guess my hope with this post was to shed light on what we should and shouldn’t be doing in regards to sharing our faith. I challenge all of us to check our lives and actions, words and speech, by the standard Jesus has set before us. We need to share Jesus…and to do that, we need to share Jesus.
I hope you found this post helpful and/or encouraging. If so, be sure to share it with your friends on Twitter or Facebook via the tweet or share boxes at the top of the page. It is through readers like you that this site gets exposed. Thank you so much! : )
In God’s Love and Grace
Born in 1989, Colton (the author of LivngForJesus) is child of God, husband, soon-to-be father (baby on the way), the Outreach & Youth Director at Gateway Christian Church and a graphic/web designer. He has had a passion for ministry since his mid-teens....
faith is like the force that motivates existence, we need the words of God to fortify the soul and life around us, great aritgo congratulations
Thank you for your faithful comments. In contrast to the ‘book burning’ story, here is a great story of a faithful priest in Egypt who shares the Gospel.
http://www.christianity.ca/frame.asp?http://www.canadianchristianity.com/nationalupdates/100902muslims.html