Do you find it difficult to share Jesus to your non-believing friends and co-workers?
If you do, you're not alone. While it's not a good thing to have difficulty in sharing Christ (see Mark 16:15), many of us go through that stage in our lives as Christians.
Many of us want to share Christ to our family members but feel like we can't because they know us and we're ashamed of ourselves.
Many of us want to share Christ to strangers but we find it hard because we worry what they'll think of us or how they'll react.
Many of us don't share Christ to our non-believing friends and colleagues simply because we don't know how.
Yes, that's a common problem among many Christians.
A recent survey conducted by the Barna Group found that more than half, or 51%, of American Christians don't know the Great Commission at all.
- This simply means that these brothers and sisters don't know what Christ commanded all of us who believe Him to do.
- This simply means that we don't really know the essence of being a Christ-follower.
- This simply means we don't know what we're supposed to be doing as a Christian living in a dark and fallen world.
Do you want to be able to easily start a conversation with your non-believing friends and colleagues? Here are a few things you need to know and do.
Why and how
First, you've got to realize that as a Christian, it's your lifestyle.
Christianity's main aim is to make Christians like Christ. It's our goal to be like Jesus, and if we seriously want to be like Jesus we've got to realize that our lifestyle should be one that's God-glorifying.
We'll live humbly like Christ, love others like Christ did, and tell the world about Christ.
Second, you've got to realize that the Gospel we are preaching saves those who respond to it.
John 3:16 tells us that whosoever believes in Christ, the Son of God, will be saved. The following verses tell us that those who don't believe won't be saved and will be condemned to an eternity in hell.
As Christians, we have in us the hope of glory, the hope of the world. Unless we share our hope to those who don't have Christ, they won't have Him. We've got to share the Gospel!
Third, we've got to realize that the Holy Spirit of God is with us as we share Christ to others.
Saving people is God's job, and it's our role to share Him to those who don't have Him. We take part in the awesome life-saving work of God by partnering with Him and allowing Him to save others through the preaching of the Gospel.
If we are saved, we have what it takes to share the life-saving Gospel of Christ.
Sharing the Gospel
And so, how do we start a conversation about Jesus with a non-believing friend or colleague?
Simple. Just talk about Him.
Approach that person prayerfully and simply tell him about God's love for him in Jesus Christ.
Christ is our message, and He is the only one we'll talk about without need to be ashamed.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."" (Romans 1:16-17)
Don't be ashamed of Christ. It's our role to tell people about Him.
"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)
We need to preach Christ to them because He is the only way for them to be saved and reconciled to the Father.
"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14)
