Hello fellow IVers, sorry the blog is a little
late this week. I know you were all
waiting with bated breath.
Last week Steven spoke about witnessing as part
of our IV community but he started out by reminding us of our position in
relation to God. We are sinners that
have fallen hilariously short of the standard God has set for us. See Romans 3:23 for verification. We truly do deserve nothing but his wrath and
yet, by and large, we get his grace, mercy and blessing. And all we really have to do to get what He
has to offer is merely accept Him into our lives as lord and master. First and foremost.
It’s really important to remember this when we
think of witnessing. I mean think of how
hard it is to not tell everyone you know about a really great gift or the
amazing deal you just got at some store, even when those people really don’t
care to hear it. It really is okay to be
excited about the gift we have in Jesus. Whether it’s a passive or active witness be excited
about it.
If you’re at work or in class realize that from
the perspective of God’s Kingdom you are there because He has lead you
there. I don’t personally think that our
main focus in the classroom or the workplace should be proselytizing since we
are in those places to learn or work.
However, you can be excited that you are there when everyone else is
grumbling, not swearing when everyone else is, not getting drunk on the
weekends when everyone else is. Being
the apple in a sea of oranges is a witness in and of itself because eventually
one of the oranges is going to ask why you aren’t a citrus fruit.
And when it comes to actively witnessing
understand that you are in good company when you feel afraid, insecure, or
anything else. Every one of the
Disciples surely felt the same and they had spent three years with Jesus in
person. Its okay to feel nervous but don’t
let that stop you. Jesus died for all
and in all honesty we were that unsaved person once too. Just think of where you’d be if someone hadn’t
made the effort to tell you about the love of Jesus.
The two best pieces of advice I believe I ever
gotten about actively witnessing are to not try to convince people that your
way is right and to not invite people to church. When you try to convince someone that you’re
right and their wrong honest witnessing soon becomes arguing and at that point
the truth of the Gospel doesn’t matter.
It quickly becomes a “my team is better than your team” conversation of
which there can be no winner. Finally,
remember you aren’t inviting people to church which is often what they think
you are doing. At least in my experience
that’s what they seemed to have been thinking.
Tell them about Jesus and what He’s done for you and what He’ll do for
them.
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