sharing our faith

It was going to be a three-hour bus ride. I sat down by myself and honestly, hoped it would stay that way. I was tired and just didn’t have the energy or the desire to talk to anyone.

Just as we were about to leave the bus terminal, one more person got on the bus. Sure enough, he sat down right beside me.

Thankfully, he didn’t even acknowledge me. I was safe.

Most of us have times, like that, when we don’t really feel like engaging with people or even being friendly, let alone sharing our faith.

Of course, we know from Scripture that there are many compelling reasons why we should care about people enough to help them and even tell them about Jesus. Yet, I suspect that we already know those reasons quite well and that there is a whole set of other reasons, reasons for not sharing our faith, that sometimes undermine our Gospel witness.

Reason #1 - I Don’t Really Want to Tell People about Jesus

The first reason, which comes naturally out of my bus story, is that I sometimes don’t want to tell people about Jesus. My concern and even love for them is not enough to move me to reach out to them in a deep and meaningful way. To be honest, all too often, I don’t really care very much for the people around me.

Jesus told us what was most important when he said in Matthew 22:37-39: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love God and love others. I want to focus on the second part for a bit.

I love to jog. One day, I was out jogging in a rainstorm. I was already feeling miserable before the jog and the rainy conditions didn’t help. As I sloshed forward on the trail, I ran past a man walking his two dogs. They kind of got in my way and in a moment of frustration, I swung my fist through the air on the way by.