Evangelism is and will always be a hot topic because of its
significance to our faith and growth of the church. Because of this, many
things have been said and many ideas promulgated to get Christians to engage in
this important exercise of our faith.
But for some reasons, many still fall short. Today, it is no surprise to
see a bible quoting, every Sunday attending, tongue talking, Holy Ghost filled
believer who goes around his or her business 365 days a year without
evangelizing for one day.
But for many it was not always like this. When they got born
again they wanted to tell everyone. Without knowing too many scriptures, they
shared the testimony of their faith and so much wanted everyone to be like
them. So, how and why do many Christians go from this passion to a passionless
state where unless they are threatened with punishment or highly enticed with
heavenly rewards, they find it hard to share their faith? I strongly believe that if we can open our
hearts to find the answer without the usual blames, condemnation, and over
stretched truths, we will not only kindle this passion, we will keep it burning
higher and higher.
While there are many facets to this problem, but the backbone-source
comes from practical Christian experience. At first, they believed with all
their heart but after sometime when their real life experience no-longer
matched their confession, they began to lose the initial passion. When you start
to short fall of the laws you thought you could keep, telling others to keep
same becomes more difficult, and smells outright hypocrisy. When a Christian
begin to struggle with his own faith, it is much harder to tell someone else. When
you felt Jesus was coming now now now, and it doesn’t happen as expected, the energy
to keep telling people fades away. When your real life experience starts to
pose more questions than your faith can answer, you lack the inward force to
evangelize.
When your teaching only condemns and fills them with guilt,
you practically quench the fire in them. As a result, while they focus on
“fixing themselves, getting it right with God”, they find it impossible to
sincerely share their faith. When you hear every Sunday that you are
not good enough, could really never please God no-matter what you do, how can
you sincerely and passionately desire to bring others into this same
experience?
The answer my friends is not to tell them that Jesus is
coming tomorrow morning, neither in promising them immediate answers to their
prayers just because they evangelized. The answer is in preaching to them the
gospel of Christ which shows them who they are in Him. The gospel is not the
obedience of man, it is the obedience of Christ. The gospel is not the laws of
the bible, it is the grace of God given to us in Christ. The gospel is not
about man’s sin, it is about the complete price Jesus paid for man’s sin. Truth
is, many of the people you are forcing to evangelize need to have their own
faith restored. Though in church but in their hearts many of them have deep
questions that must be answered.
A person cannot give what s/he does not have. Their faith must be restored. Their
confidence rebuilt. Their conviction and joy brought back by exposing them to
the true heart of the Father God. When the gospel restores their true position
in Christ, they will overcome sin, live victorious, experience the joy of their
salvation, and when these things are in place, you don’t need to threaten them
to share with others. I know because I was once there. In 3 years since Jesus led
me to His gospel, God has used me to win more souls than in the 19 years I was
a Christian under the law. If you want to reduce everything I have said to one
reason, it is this: The Law is the problem and Grace is the answer.
