SHARING IS CARING
[5-minute read]
Is sharing a natural behaviour for believers? Do we only share big news like a wedding, a much-anticipated pregnancy, a welcomed re-opening of global travel or a long-awaited promotion? What about small personal wins, or recent movies, stories and food we have enjoyed? What about our personal stories of Jesus and God’s love? Does it feel unnatural and uncomfortable to introduce God into our private conversations? Have we lost the spark for Jesus?
Today, we risk losing the art of preserving oral traditions when we prefer to text rather than talk, and use emojis rather than show real emotions, empathy and compassion in person. If only we realize the power of God’s salvation which we have received, the significance of sharing the ordinary moments of life with God, and the deeper human connection they make possible, we would think differently about conversations.
Peter asserted, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”(Acts 4:12)
Think about it: we are the ones with the good news about a good God! Why should we remain silent? The Bible tells of a woman who ran off to share with her entire village after her conversation with Jesus and “many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him” (John 4:39), and how Peter and John felt compelled to tell others about what they had seen and heard around Jesus in spite of strong opposition. As a result, “many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand” (Acts 4:4).’
We don’t need to possess great oratorical skills or even have an audience to be impactful. God has placed people in our lives to have conversations with – yes, even uncomfortable ones. In all honesty, it is often harder to be truthful up close with one person than it is to deliver a speech from the pulpit to an audience. If we only pick and choose only ‘nice people’ to talk to, if we avoid ‘certain people’ who are unlike us, if we delude ourselves that people have the freedom to find out about Jesus for themselves when they are ready, we let immaturity run our lives and impair our calling as the bearers of the good news of God’s salvation. Romans 10:17 (NLT) puts it this way: ‘So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ’.
There are three reasons why we need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others:
First and foremost, we live in a broken and fallen world. Nothing has changed since the Garden of Eden – the part after the first human couple thought they knew better. We still don’t.
Since way back in biblical days, the apostle Paul warned a younger Timothy: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 5:2-5a)
Such is the condition of societies and the world we live in today. This is the real world we are in today. Growing at alarming rates are financial scams, racial attacks, gender violence, and the breakdown of marriages. As believers, we don’t live by fate or qué será, será: we live by faith and hope which we share with the world.
Mattie Montgomery put it plainly this way: sharing the Gospel is not a strategy or method for ministry, it is the manifestation of love in the lives of God’s children.
Who will you be when you know that someone is going through a time of heartache? How would you respond if someone asked how you managed to roll with the punches through seasons of uncertainty and loneliness? Do you suggest that time will change everything and glibly say ‘this too shall pass’ even when you know that some things never do? Or will you instead offer to pray with that person so that your voice and your faith in God could bring comfort? Or perhaps share a personal account of when you too faced a crisis of faith when life threw you one curve ball after another?
Let’s be sure of this: we are not superhumans because we are saved. We are simply humans with faith and hope in Jesus Christ that the world needs.
Secondly, let’s not withhold sharing the Gospel because everyone deserves to know the giver of life – Jesus Christ. When we’re proud of someone – our child, our spouse, a special friend – don’t we want to introduce that person to others? Or do we childishly hold back out of a fear of being criticized or of losing that person to others?
Jesus did not die to give us a religion but so that we can have a relationship with our heavenly Father. Sharing the Gospel is our privilege as children of God. If we know what lies ahead for those who don’t know Jesus, if we know the final destination, it should trigger a sense of urgency in us to share God’s love and invite others into a personal relationship with Him.
This is God’s promise in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
‘Whoever’ refers to abuse victims as much as it does to abuse perpetrators. It refers to those who are victimized by those in power as much as those who abuse their power. It refers as much to those who are hard to love and emotionally crippled as it does to those who spend their lives doing charitable works hoping to redeem themselves. And we are also the ‘whoever’ whom God reached out to in an amazing way!
In short, we don’t exist for ourselves and our families alone. Ask God to expand your heart for others so that His greater purpose can be fulfilled through you – enriching your own life!
Thirdly, we share the Gospel because the Lord has called us to be His witnesses. We are not silent witnesses! We have an identity as offspring of God, and “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We have a voice to give hope to a world that is increasingly chaotic.
We cannot be silent nor be silenced. When you have seen and experienced God’s grace and goodness and how the Gospel not only released you from your past but also released hope into your life and your future, it is a beautiful story that many need to hear. It is time you also share your story with those in your sphere of influence. People may not respond immediately or even positively, but that won’t change or invalidate your story.
After all, sharing is caring!
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 26 March 2022.
