“I don’t think I can adequately verbalize the gospel. I’m nervous. What if my friend doesn’t want to hear anything about Jesus? What if my relationship with friend name here becomes strained because they think I am trying to convert them?”
A while back ago, a pastor challenged a group of college students to think of three people in their lives that do not know Jesus and share the gospel with them that summer break. I thought to myself, “This is a cool challenge.” He said, “Just share what the gospel means to you. Share what the gospel has done in your life.” I felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders and I thought, “Wow. Sharing what the gospel means to me is much less intimidating than saying to someone, ‘Hey. Have you heard the gospel?’ and see the other person fidget uncomfortably thinking I am trying to convert them.”
That summer I asked three friends, “Would you like to grab dinner and do you mind if I share what the gospel means to me?” All of them said yes and were open to hearing what the gospel meant to me as they knew being a follower of Jesus was a huge part of my life. I wasn’t nervous sharing with them because I was sharing how the gospel impacted me. I learned a lot from these three experiences. I shared what the gospel meant to me in my life but I also learned to listen: what they believed, what they thought of Christians, what they thought about the bible. I so enjoyed each one of those conversations. Between both people, each conversation was real, heartfelt and honest.
After this collective experience, I was inspired to continue sharing the “good news” with my friends. These experiences have been awesome in that a friend was open to allowing me to share something I care deeply about. I always approached each situation with humbleness, love, kindness, genuineness and an openness to listening (attributes that were not from me but the Lord). I did not have the pressure of them needing to accept Jesus. I just shared and listened and my friends reciprocated.
The apostle Paul, who oversaw the stoning of the first Christian martyr Stephen, after his experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus wrote in Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God who brings salvation to everyone who believes..”
In 2 Corinthians, it says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
1 Corinthians 3:6 says,
“I planted the seed. Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.”
I want to encourage those who are afraid, hesitant or timid about sharing the gospel to not be! Write down your fears and ask the Lord to see if those fears are of Him.
And for those who do not know the gospel, here it is summarized in scripture: God made humankind. He loves us immensely. He gave us the choice to follow Him or not follow Him (because what is love if we do not have a choice in the matter). Adam and Eve however after being tempted chose to disobey God by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This caused a rift in our relationship with God as He is a holy God apart from sin and evil. However, God wanted our relationship with Him to be made right again. Therefore, God sent His one and only son, Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, into the world to take on the only fitting penalty for sin which is death and eternal anguish. On the cross, Jesus (the perfect sacrifice without sin) took on all our terrible, unrighteous, wrathful, crimes against each other sins and endured the wrath of God toward all the sins of the world. He paid the right penalty for sin by dying. However, Jesus rose from the dead conquering death (the last enemy) and is now with His father in heaven showing victory over evil. God gives us the choice today to restore our relationship with Him through Jesus’s perfect sacrifice on the cross. We, humans, could never atone for our sins on our own accord. God asks us to follow Him and all His commands. His commands are summed up by “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Creator of the whole universe, who is sovereign, all powerful and mighty loves us despite our continuous and offensive rejection of Him. He desires us to seek a relationship with Him. Would you like to accept God’s offer to you of an unhindered, holy, joyful, whole and complete relationship with Him?
Love you all…
For more on the gospel, look here.
