Hello My Brothers and Sisters!

It has been a while since I have written one of my encouragement blogs and I wanted to share an experience I witnessed recently. We have all been called to share The Gospel, as Jesus taught us in The Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20). While this is true, there are some things that we need to be careful of when we are witnessing to people.

Earlier this week I witnessed something that troubled my heart. A young boy that was a family member of someone in our church came to visit and was attending our services. The congregation had been made aware beforehand that this boy, of about 12 years old, did not know Christ as his savior and was living in a situation that was not healthy to the watering of the gospel seed. One of our members, who is an active witness, took the young boy aside along with his relative in the church and began to share Christ with him. Now you may be thinking, “What’s so troubling about that”? The reason it was troubling to me is because they were aggressively talking about hell and saying that if he died he would burn in a lake of fire and spend eternity in torment. This kid was obviously frightened and at this point would have said anything to remedy the situation. While everything they were saying is true, the tactics they were using were not those best to explain the love of our Savior to a child who has never heard about Jesus. That young boy repeated the words they told him to, but I seriously doubt that boy understood the true gospel message and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. We must be careful my brothers and sisters. When we share Christ with others, we must use a message that is tailored to the audience we are speaking to. We can’t use the same message that we would say to and adult, as we would a child. We can’t use the same tactics on a Muslim as we would an atheist: It just won’t work.

To The Weak, I became Weak

Via Google Images

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 NASB
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under [a]the Law, as under [b]the Law though not being myself under [c]the Law, so that I might win those who are under [d]the Law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. 23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Paul explains this very thing to the church at Corinth. We must consider our audience when sharing the gospel. This will ensure that we can be the most effective witnesses possible. While ultimately it is up to the Holy Spirit to draw and convict the hearts of men, we must be sure we are careful to not hinder it in any way. I understand what my fellow church members were trying to do for this young boy. I truly believe that their hearts were well intended. I just believe that their delivery was not well tailored to the needs of that boy. I would never want to discourage anyone from sharing the good news of Christ. I write this in hopes of creating awareness that the way we present it does matter.

Press on my brothers and sisters!

-Jonathan