When was the last time you witnessed to someone? Does that question bring all sorts of ideas about what that means? Instead of thinking of the last time you brought someone to Christ does you mind go to all the time that has passed since you last talked to someone about Christ?
Does your mind immediately go to guilt?
If so, why is that?
I have heard numerous times from different pastors in different churches say how important it is not to be ashamed of the gospel, and that they should tell everyone they meet about Jesus. Does this sound familiar? They’ve even made songs about this idea.
The thing is I don’t know if it’s a problem of people being ashamed of Jesus. At least a lot of the Christians that I know are glad to be associated with the son of the living God. Sometimes what keeps people quiet in the marketplace is not shame but what I believe is a God-given respect for the rights of other people. Sometimes in unnatural situations people may not want to start preaching and I don’t blame them. They would rather not violate the sense of propriety that they feel.
There is nothing worse than someone trying to tell someone about Jesus in a forced, unnatural state while their motivation comes from satisfying a sense of guilt. Even the person witnessing in that moment wishes they could pull out the Men In Black memory eraser and walk away.
We simply need to be natural and real, if Jesus lives in us then it shouldn’t be long before people around us realize it. We can’t force people to believe in Jesus. People believing in Jesus is not our goal, it’s our hope but not our goal. Our goal is to love people with the transforming, inexplicable love that God put inside of us showing them what our God is like.
Because our goal is not to bring people to Jesus, it’s to bring Jesus to people.
Photo Credit: Royal Constantine
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