Our family is our first ministry. Before we decide to embark on the adventurous journey of preaching the Gospel to all the world and making disciples of all nations, we should first desire to reach out to our family with Christ's Gospel.
That's right. We ought to evangelize our family first.
I know that's not easy for some -- even many -- to do. Most of us feel awkward when we try to share Christ and repentance to our own parents and siblings. Still, we must do it.
In this article I'll be giving three practical tips to share Christ to your family. We're all in this together, brothers. Let's all desire to see our families saved.
1) Realize that God wants them saved, too
Many of us Christians can be so selfish. We enjoy the fact that we're saved by Christ, that through Him we have God as Father, and that when we die we'll go back home to God because of Christ.
Because of this, some of us are unable to focus outside ourselves. We avoid hurt and all sorts of disappointment, and thus we don't try to share the Gospel to people who might reject us.
As such, many of us just don't want to try sharing Christ to our fathers and mothers and siblings. We may think it's because we're avoiding rejection, but the more pressing reality there is that we don't realize just how much God wants them saved (see 1 Timothy 2:4; Acts 16:31).
And we don't realize that there's eternal punishment for those who aren't saved (see John 3:18).
2) Let your life speak volumes about Christ
Many Christians are good at preaching with their mouths, but are terrible witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ with their lives. What do I mean?
Some Christians know how to preach and quote the Bible to others, but don't know how to apply it to themselves properly. Their words sound appealing but their lifestyle and behavior are appalling.
Choose to let your life be a living testimony to Christ's goodness. When your family sees the good changes in you, they will see proof of Christ's work in you.
3) Allow the Holy Spirit to help you
The work of salvation is God's work from start to finish. This is why Jesus is called the Author and the Finisher of our faith (see Hebrews 12:2). It all starts in Him, continues in Him, and ends in Him.
As such, we've got to ask the Holy Spirit to help us reach our families with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He knows how to approach them. We should ask Him to help us share Christ to our families (see James 1:5).
He'll surely do that.
