We are Called to be Witnesses

Do shake in your boots at the thought of sharing the Gospel to friends, family and or co-workers?

I kind of do.

Though, it's not a fear of talking to them, it's the subject of what I'm sharing.

I guess our fears can stem from a range of things:

• Messing up the Message 
• Not knowing how to start
• Not knowing what to say
• Not finding the right time
• Being found annoying, offensive and ultimately losing friends

For me I guess it would be pretty much all of the above, but especially the last one. 

Personally, I don't have many close friends that I share a lot with, but I do have many people that I'm always happy to see and talk with and sometimes even go out with.

A whole heap of these people are from various 'religions' Sikh, Hindu, Bhuddist.

Now a lot of these folks will like my Facebook statuses about God, but when I mention Jesus, the likes come only from my born again friends. 

They are going through life missing the point though, and I'm bursting to share the life and love that Jesus is with them, but I guess I feel something is stopping me. 

For example, I enjoy spending time with one of my good friends, who is a Hindu but I seriously  yearn for her salvation.

So what's stopping me from sharing Jesus?

Fear of offending and losing her as a friend, fear of our friendship going sour and south.

Well, consider the below:

What if we were so in love with Jesus, that nothing stopped us from sharing Him with those we know, love and care about?

My good friend who I referred to above, has always asked me why I never gave up on her (she was into a lot of the wrong things) and she is greatful that I didn't.
Well you say, that's easy, as Christian's we're supposed to love the unlovable and believe in the worth of people though they think themselves unworthy, as God has shown love to us while we were still sinners and as he has placed worth on us in Christ Jesus.

I guess I knew deep down, but never could articulate the above because man did she test and try me!

However, earlier this year, as I was discovering more about the personality of Jesus, the holy Spirit gave me the answer in plain terms.  It was all about Jesus and his love, grace and mercy shown towards me, the second chances that he had given me that should be afforded to everyone, because we are called to show God's love and be living vessels of it!

So I explained it to her in a private message via facebook.
And you know what, I did have the voice saying to me, she doesn't want to hear about Jesus, but I shoved it aside, and I told her, because I needed to give the Glory to God. I was falling more in love with Jesus, and I could not deny talking about Him to her anymore.

1 John 4:18 (NIV):

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

The Outcome? She loved me for it. Now I wanted her to love Jesus for it, not me, becuase if it wasn't for His love toward me, I would have given up on her as a lot of people did, and I explained this to her.
No major breakthrough for her, but we shouldn't let what we can see, dishearten us because it's often what we can't see that counts - and sometimes that's the bigger picture (what we can't see or understand).
This reminds me of something Scott 'Sanga' Samways preached on the topic of witnessing:

"Don't be the missing link!"

See, Sanga said that, you might not be the one who takes a friend all the way to the point of Salvation, because it can be a series of "God deposits" in their life that all take them up to that point, so it's crucial that you play your part. You might be the starting link in the chain, the middle link, the end link or a link some where in between, it doesn't matter which link you are, as long as you are there!

Even if my friend had said "look that's great and all but stop with the all the Jesus stuff", it wouldn't have been the end of the world! Sure, I would have been upset but, as Rich Wilkerson Jr said :

"You get up, dust yourself off and move on!"

  2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus 'sake.

Even in including the example of my friend in this post, I was almost tempted to delete it, out of fear that she might read it and get offended. And on that note, if you're reading this my dear friend, I just want you to know the perfect love that is Jesus - because life is best when it's lived with him. 


There is a tweet which really convicted me on this matter, here it is:

Brittany Posey ‏@_Jesusdied4u

I would rather share God's Word and lose a friend down here rather than stand in judgment before God with their blood on my hands in Heaven!

Finally, I'm going to leave you with a quote from Carl Lentz - Pastor, who said of offending people while witnessing (paraphrased):

- Jesus offended many to get to us, so if we have to offend some to get them to Him, so be it.