Sharing Faith

I have learned many things about sharing my faith in the last year. Lessons that are pretty simple in concept, but somehow I missed them.

First, the Holy Spirit is the one who works on a person’s heart. I can work with Him, but I am not assigned to save people—only share.

The most significant paradigm shift is that it should take a lot of time and consideration for a person to commit to a life in Christ. Consider how much research and time is taken for a big decision such as a car purchase, house purchase, move, or career change. Yet, somehow we expect people to make a life change immediately.

Another observation is that we oftentimes see unbelievers as doing OK. We have even become desensitized to their spiritual condition. Many people drive by beggars or hitchhikers because we’ve heard of the dangers and fraudulent activity that is sometimes involved. We have become desensitized to their real suffering. Similarly, we don’t seem to understand that spiritual issues are a life-and-death matter. We just “drive by,” not wanting to get involved. Unlike the supposed need of beggars, unbelievers are really more like drowning victims within arm’s reach of us. All we need to do is open our mouths and share what God has done in our lives. They have a choice of whether to get out of the water or not. But we must offer them the chance at life.

“that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel . . . that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Ephesians 6:19-20