An important question to ask yourself is "how do we share our faith with others?" or "how do we find the courage and words to say when sharing the love of Christ with others?" I hope to be able to answer these questions in tonight's post. However, before we start discussing being a witness to others and sharing our faith, I feel it is important to point out a verse that shows how to become a follower of God. Romans 10:9-15 is a long passage that I will break up into a couple sections. The first section (verses 9-11) reads That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Becoming a Christian truly is as easy as that. My pastor often says that it is as simple as "ABC". You must first Admit that you're a sinner, then Believe that Christ died for your sins, was raised from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and finally Confess Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. More information on salvation can be found by reading the "Roman Road." The verses are: Romans 1:20-21, 3:23, 3:10, 6:23a, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10, 10:13, 8:1, and 5:1. You can look them each up in your Bible, or they can be easily found online.
The second section of the passage (Romans 10:13-15) says this: for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" People typically don't believe things the first time they hear them. As humans, we like to process and come to conclusions ourselves. However, if there is no one to plant the seed of Christ's love in the minds of others, then people will not process and decide to believe and follow Christ. Knowing God's love for you is a truly amazing feeling as any believer will tell you. To keep that feeling a secret or to try to keep it all to yourself is selfish. The Lord has more than enough love to more than fill everyone in the world's hearts from the beginning to end of time. Sharing His love with others will not take away from your love from Him, but in fact will draw you closer to Him. In my short time as a Christian (only a year and nine months so far), I have had the opportunity of watching people I have witnessed to become my brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a feeling that is beyond explanation and honestly rivals that of my own salvation.
When I first became a Christian in September of 2010 I was ecstatic to tell everyone in the world, but I didn't know anything about God or the Bible, except that Jesus loved me and that I would spend the rest of my life learning about and following Him. It is nearly impossible to share the Word of Christ (accurately) if you don't know the Word of Christ. That isn't to say that you can't lead people to the Lord just because you haven't read the Bible or memorized verses. But let me tell you, the Bible is an unbelievable resource that will give your attempts to witness a bit more credibility and background. As Christians, it is our responsibility to share with others the "good news" of the Lord. In fact it is so important to God that we share with others that he commands us to on multiple occasions. Two that I found to be clear and direct can be found in Mark 16:15-16 and Matthew 28:18-20. He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned..." Mark 16:15-16 Matthew 28 reads: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 This passage actually tells us to teach others (specifically new Christians) to obey the commands that Jesus has given us. Not only do we need to tell others of the Lord and how He loves us more than anything we can possibly imagine, but we need to tell them to follow what He tells us to do, this includes telling them to share the Word with others.
In this time of being "politically correct" and trying to keep from offending anyone, people can get worried about sharing their faith with others. Be proud to be a child of the King. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." Romans 1:16 It truly is a gift to be saved by Jesus to live for all eternity in His presence. Don't sell that short by being ashamed of it. It is a wonderful thing, be proud of your faith and try to help others be proud of it too. I visited my boyfriend's parent's church with them this past weekend and I heard their pastor say that "your relationship with Christ should always be personal, but never private."
Father God, I thank you for our freedom to openly follow you. I feel that I take this for granted more often than not. I am able to broadcast world-wide via this blog and tell people of your love when in some countries people have been killed for opening following and serving you, Lord. Please continue to remind me, and others like me, just how lucky we are to be able to share your Word with others. I pray that we don't take our freedoms for granted and that we use our opportunities to tell others of your never ending love for us. I love you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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