Sharing the What Now?? (It's long, but read it anyway.)
I'm not really a Gospel sharer... as hard as that is to admit. My husband is, he's incredible. The stories he can tell about the total strangers he has shared the Good News with and prayed with... he's like an undercover Billy Graham. (That might be a slight exaggeration, but he has a gift, that's for sure). I, on the other hand, have no gift. I think it's because I kind of fall under the banner of "living my life so they see Jesus" which counts as sharing the gospel, no?
No.
Over the last few months I've felt this pressure, a burden if you will. Like this is it, you know? The earth isn't getting any younger. Then the whole thing with the "blood moon" and then Easter and all of the sudden I am thinking WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME CHRISTIANS!
Let me go back a few years...
We started going to this church where the pastor preached the Bible. I mean REALLY preached the Bible. Nothing fancy, no artistry, no fuzzy feelings, just the Word of God.
And I hated it.
I did. I had just come from a church where pastors may or may not have ever opened the Bible during the service. The emphases was on all things happy and lovely and graceful and I left every service feeling like I had been to a motivational talk.
And I loved it.
But that's not the gospel.
Jesus wasn't always sunshine and roses. He wasn't always grace this, and happy that, he was a lot of sacrifice this, and give up that. In the beginning I thought my new pastor was so harsh, always telling us bad news. But then one weekend I realized; there is no Good News without some bad news.
And Jesus changed my life.
After that I understood the incredible burden my pastor felt each week to fully, and completely explain- in context- what the Bible says. It literally pains him to make sure he is telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The weight he carries as a pastor, in a leadership position over so many people, and the accountability he faces when he stands before the Lord one day... I can't even imagine... No wonder he doesn't sugar coat, there simply isn't time to.
Present day me - I feel that burden now. Probably not nearly as great as my pastor does, but I feel it. Like the world is going DOWN, and quickly. And I also feel like I'm getting older (oh puhleez, you're 33, stop with the old talk!) Jesus was 33 when his ministry ended people! There's an urgency I feel, like even if the world isn't going to end tomorrow it certainly isn't going to get any better. And if I stop and think about all the people I come in contact with on a regular basis, what if they don't know? What if they haven't heard? It kinda freaks me out. All of the sudden I feel this huge responsibly to tell people about Jesus. (And I'm so, so sorry I haven't felt that urgency before).
Going back again to before I met Mark. . .
I was dating this dude, and I knew I wasn't going to marry him. I broke up with him and told him it was because we didn't value the same things and I wanted to be with a Christian. His response still stabs me, he said, "You never told me about Jesus, how was I supposed to know about him and care about him if you never even mention him?" Daaaaaaaang. Here I was, a proclaiming Christian, and I hadn't even told this dude I cared about about Christ? (I think it is safe to say, though I was very "Christianly" for many, many years, I hadn't yet completely surrendered my life to Christ... but I suppose that's another post...)
All this to say, I think now about these people I see all the time, people I have relationships with at grocery stores and soccer fields, and I think, what if there's a day when they look at me and say, "why didn't you ever tell me about Jesus? You knew about him this whole time and you never said a word." Like I said, freaks me out.
So the mailman stops at my house the other day and I happened to be out there, and he noticed the kids and asked how many I had and wigged out, like everyone does, but I said, "I believe there is a God, and I believe the Bible is true because God inspired it and the Bible says 'children are a blessing from the Lord' so that's what I'm hanging on to." which I've said countless amounts of times to different people BUT he went off. For nearly 15 minutes I just stood there and listened to him rant. He had such an ax to grind with Christians. And I was so sad because it sounded like every Christian he had come in contact with was not a Christian at all but some punk who maybe believes there's a god but has trampled on the name of Christ and ruined the reputation of all Christians, and I was so, so, SO very sad, and profoundly sorry. I finally got a word in and explained the real Jesus of the Bible. The one who loves, but doesn't allow half heartedness. Jesus, who serves and builds up the broken, but also expects hardship and suffering. He threw verses at me and I opened my handy Bible app on my phone and read back to him the real verses he was "quoting". It wasn't magical. It wasn't perfect and I didn't have all the answers (no, I don't know why the Maccabee books weren't included in the Bible, and no, I'm not sure if Adam and Eve had belly buttons. . . ) but the Holy Spirit knew I was shaking in my boots and gave me the words anyway. And Sam got a chance to hear about the real Jesus, and I think he liked what he heard.
Honestly, I feel kinda lame writing about this, but if you're like me you might be thinking, "how in the world do you share the gospel with your mailman??" Good grief, I couldn't have answered that question a few days ago, that's for sure! But let me tell you something, it's pumped me up to share again. With anybody really, because if God is for it, then who can stop it? I have absolutely nothing to lose if I do, but that person might have absolutely everything to lose it I don't. And I would SO love to hear your stories of how you brought Jesus and the gospel into a conversation. Text me, or call me, or fb me or whatever, I just want to hear about it. Okay, let's do this!
No.
Over the last few months I've felt this pressure, a burden if you will. Like this is it, you know? The earth isn't getting any younger. Then the whole thing with the "blood moon" and then Easter and all of the sudden I am thinking WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME CHRISTIANS!
Let me go back a few years...
We started going to this church where the pastor preached the Bible. I mean REALLY preached the Bible. Nothing fancy, no artistry, no fuzzy feelings, just the Word of God.
And I hated it.
I did. I had just come from a church where pastors may or may not have ever opened the Bible during the service. The emphases was on all things happy and lovely and graceful and I left every service feeling like I had been to a motivational talk.
And I loved it.
But that's not the gospel.
Jesus wasn't always sunshine and roses. He wasn't always grace this, and happy that, he was a lot of sacrifice this, and give up that. In the beginning I thought my new pastor was so harsh, always telling us bad news. But then one weekend I realized; there is no Good News without some bad news.
And Jesus changed my life.
After that I understood the incredible burden my pastor felt each week to fully, and completely explain- in context- what the Bible says. It literally pains him to make sure he is telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The weight he carries as a pastor, in a leadership position over so many people, and the accountability he faces when he stands before the Lord one day... I can't even imagine... No wonder he doesn't sugar coat, there simply isn't time to.
Present day me - I feel that burden now. Probably not nearly as great as my pastor does, but I feel it. Like the world is going DOWN, and quickly. And I also feel like I'm getting older (oh puhleez, you're 33, stop with the old talk!) Jesus was 33 when his ministry ended people! There's an urgency I feel, like even if the world isn't going to end tomorrow it certainly isn't going to get any better. And if I stop and think about all the people I come in contact with on a regular basis, what if they don't know? What if they haven't heard? It kinda freaks me out. All of the sudden I feel this huge responsibly to tell people about Jesus. (And I'm so, so sorry I haven't felt that urgency before).
Going back again to before I met Mark. . .
I was dating this dude, and I knew I wasn't going to marry him. I broke up with him and told him it was because we didn't value the same things and I wanted to be with a Christian. His response still stabs me, he said, "You never told me about Jesus, how was I supposed to know about him and care about him if you never even mention him?" Daaaaaaaang. Here I was, a proclaiming Christian, and I hadn't even told this dude I cared about about Christ? (I think it is safe to say, though I was very "Christianly" for many, many years, I hadn't yet completely surrendered my life to Christ... but I suppose that's another post...)
All this to say, I think now about these people I see all the time, people I have relationships with at grocery stores and soccer fields, and I think, what if there's a day when they look at me and say, "why didn't you ever tell me about Jesus? You knew about him this whole time and you never said a word." Like I said, freaks me out.
So the mailman stops at my house the other day and I happened to be out there, and he noticed the kids and asked how many I had and wigged out, like everyone does, but I said, "I believe there is a God, and I believe the Bible is true because God inspired it and the Bible says 'children are a blessing from the Lord' so that's what I'm hanging on to." which I've said countless amounts of times to different people BUT he went off. For nearly 15 minutes I just stood there and listened to him rant. He had such an ax to grind with Christians. And I was so sad because it sounded like every Christian he had come in contact with was not a Christian at all but some punk who maybe believes there's a god but has trampled on the name of Christ and ruined the reputation of all Christians, and I was so, so, SO very sad, and profoundly sorry. I finally got a word in and explained the real Jesus of the Bible. The one who loves, but doesn't allow half heartedness. Jesus, who serves and builds up the broken, but also expects hardship and suffering. He threw verses at me and I opened my handy Bible app on my phone and read back to him the real verses he was "quoting". It wasn't magical. It wasn't perfect and I didn't have all the answers (no, I don't know why the Maccabee books weren't included in the Bible, and no, I'm not sure if Adam and Eve had belly buttons. . . ) but the Holy Spirit knew I was shaking in my boots and gave me the words anyway. And Sam got a chance to hear about the real Jesus, and I think he liked what he heard.
Honestly, I feel kinda lame writing about this, but if you're like me you might be thinking, "how in the world do you share the gospel with your mailman??" Good grief, I couldn't have answered that question a few days ago, that's for sure! But let me tell you something, it's pumped me up to share again. With anybody really, because if God is for it, then who can stop it? I have absolutely nothing to lose if I do, but that person might have absolutely everything to lose it I don't. And I would SO love to hear your stories of how you brought Jesus and the gospel into a conversation. Text me, or call me, or fb me or whatever, I just want to hear about it. Okay, let's do this!
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Amy Smith