GOD EXPECTS CHRISTIANS TO BE WITNESSES FOR HIM.
BIBLE PASSAGE:
We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own
children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were
delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
(1 Thessalonians 2:7-8)
MEDITATION:
How many times have you seen or heard someone tell others what to do,
but they don’t follow their own advice? People can be full of advice, but
not very good at doing what they say. It doesn’t mean they don’t have
good intentions, but they lose credibility when they fail to follow their
own instructions.
If someone tells you that your car will get better gas mileage by using
premium fuel, but you see them putting regular fuel in their car, then
you wouldn’t have much confidence in their advice, would you?
On the other hand, if someone told you about an exercise
to help tennis elbow and you saw them doing it: when you
saw how it cured their elbow, you would have more faith
in their advice, right?
As Christians we need to be aware that others judge us more
by what they see us do, than what they hear us say. With that
in mind, we need to consider our own actions before we express
our faith and opinions to others.
If we share the gospel with others, but are not living it in our
own lives, then we are not going to have much of an impact
on their thoughts about salvation, are we?
Paul gives us a good example of how to share the gospel with the
lost. He tells us they had concerns for the lost, and treated them
in a gentle manner. They didn’t bombard them with all kinds of
scriptures and theological principles. Instead, they talked to them
in the same manner that a loving mother would explain something
to her child. They kept everything simple.
When Vince Lombardi was the coach of the Green Bay Packers,
they were not playing well and after one of their losses, he called
a team meeting. When everyone assembled in the meeting room,
Vince said,
“Guys we need to get back to the basics, this is a football”
and he held one up. We should consider the basics when sharing
God’s Word with others. They really don’t care how much we know
until they know how much we care.
Paul also assured them they had a genuine love for the people and
their spiritual condition. Because of their feelings for the lost, they
looked forward to sharing the gospel with them. Why? Because they
knew how the gospel could change their lives.
They cared for the lost, they had a genuine love for them, and they
delighted in sharing the gospel with them. However, if you look at
the last part of 1 Thessalonians 2:8, you can see that they also shared
their lives with them.
Paul knew the value of ‘living the gospel’ in support of ‘sharing the
gospel’ with the lost. He knew that simply telling others about God’s
free gift of salvation would have little impact, if they could not see
him living the life of someone who had been saved.
There was a man who wanted to know what life was like for homeless
people. He concealed his identity and went to live on the streets of his
city. He found that food and shelter were offered by many organizations.
At one shelter he could spend the night if he agreed to listen to a sermon
beforehand. He enjoyed the guest speaker’s message and went to talk with
him afterwards. However, as he reached out to shake the man’s hand and
ask if he could talk with him, the speaker walked right past him as if he
didn’t exist.
There is a good lesson in this example. As Christians, we communicate
to others that we genuinely care for them whenever we take the time to
stop and listen. We have probably all felt the ‘sting’ of someone ignoring
us, failing to listen to us, turning to talk to someone else while we were
still speaking to them, or even walking away before we finished what we
were saying.
None of these actions should be present in the lives of those
following Jesus. Why? Because He gave us many examples
of taking the time to listen to others (including those who
were not in His close circle of friends).
Even though He was busy about His Father’s work and was
in a large crowd, He took the time to speak to a woman who
was distressed over her health.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman
was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She
had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had
spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the
crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just
touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding
stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her
suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He
turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered,
“and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the
woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his
feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to
her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be
freed from your suffering.”
(Mark 5:24b-34)
On another occasion, Jesus was in a crowd but took the time
to speak to a small man whom the people didn’t like, because
he was as a tax collector who had cheated many of them out
of their possessions.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was
there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector
and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because
he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead
and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was
coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him,
“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your
house today.”So he came down at once and welcomed him
gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has
gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
(Luke 19:1-7)
..and look at the impact Jesus had on this man because He took
time to not only listen to the man, but to also visit him at his
home. Jesus shows us the importance of communication and
encouraging others, rather than ignoring them because they
aren’t in our close circle of friends (which causes discouragement).
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord!
Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and
if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back
four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation
has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of
Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save
the lost.”
(Luke 19:8-10)
ACTION:
Have you considered how your actions impact the lost? For instance,
if you claim to love the Lord, but they see no evidence of your desire
to worship and pray to Him, what message are you sending to the lost?
Let’s be honest, we have to understand what the lost expect to see in
followers of Christ, and if they don’t see it, they will get the idea that
they are as good (or better) than we are, so they don’t need the Lord
in their life.
As an example, some followers of Christ have the idea that social
drinking is okay. I personally don’t believe that, but what is more
important is, “What do lost people think about it?” If their perception
is, “Drinking alcohol is sinful”, and they see us drinking, what will
they think about our sincerity of following Jesus, and how will our
actions affect eternity for them? We can imagine them thinking
(and probably saying) something like…
“They claim to be a Christian, but I saw them drinking,
so they are no better than I am! Why would I want or
need Jesus in my life?”
We can try to make excuses, justify, or debate our actions,
but the bottom line is, regardless of our own opinion, it is
the impact we have on the souls of others that should be
our greatest concern. None of us want to be the cause of
someone else missing out on Heaven.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for Your salvation that You have
given me. Help me to have a heart that wants to see others receive
Your salvation. Teach me to live a life that confirms my faith in
You, so that others can see my love for You is sincere. Forgive me
for causing anyone to be disinterested in You as a result of how
they see me live my life. Increase my determination to put You
above my own selfish desires, so that I can be a living witness
for You.”
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