Why We Don’t Share Our Faith With Others

Have you ever been really excited when you bought the latest and greatest tablet, or when you finally found that perfect pair of shoes — and they were on sale? And then, do you remember how you couldn’t wait to tell someone about it?

Advertisers know that when we really love something – or someone — we naturally want to tell other people about it. Which is why the greatest form of advertisement in the entire world is word of mouth.

So why is it that we as Christians don’t share about the most important relationship in our lives – our relationship with Jesus? Statistics show that only about 1 of out 10 Christians actively and intentionally share the love of God with other people. It’s hard to understand how we can personally experience God’s infinite grace, love and forgiveness, yet hold back when it comes to sharing it with others.

What it boils down to is this: we hold back from telling others about Jesus because we believe a lie. Satan wants us to believe certain lies because he knows this will prevent us from taking the same love and grace that we’ve received from God and giving it away to others.

There are several specific lies – or strongholds – that keep us from sharing God’s love with others. And these are strongholds that we mush demolish daily with our spiritual weapons of God’s truth (2 Cor 10:4-5).

Lie #1: People aren’t open to hearing about our faith. The truth: We think that most people aren’t open, but reality says otherwise. In a recent study, of those surveyed 62% said they believe in God or a higher being and 8 out of 10 people said they would be open to listening to someone talk about their Christian beliefs.

Lie #2: Sharing God’s love is reserved for superstars or only people with outgoing personalities. The truth: We don’t have to be Billy Graham or Beth Moore to share our faith. God uniquely made each one of us to share His love in our own way. So often we mistakenly believe that the power is in the messenger. But the Bible says the power is in the message and not in the messenger.

Lie #3: Witnessing is what we do. The truth: witnessing is what we are. Most of us have been taught that we need to witness to others. But before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told his disciples, “… You will be my witnesses…” This doesn’t mean just being a nice person or only living a lifestyle that demonstrates Christ-likeness. The world needs to see the message of our life and it needs to hear the message of the Gospel in our words.

Lie #4: Sharing the Good News is an event. The truth: sharing the Good News is a process. We can be assured that it’s never entirely up to us share the gospel with someone. God is always orchestrating the process and usually there are several others believers who are also involved in some way.

Lie #5: He or she will never come to Christ. The truth: God desires that all people to be saved. He deeply and passionately loves everyone you know. So don’t give up! Remember the Apostle Paul. Before he came to know and serve Christ, he was one of biggest persecutors of Christian church and the most unlikely candidates to serve God.

I wonder how many of us can relate to believing one or all of these lies. I know I can. So I’d like to encourage you to ask yourself the following questions: How will people know that God loves them? Who will show them and who will tell them? Do I feel compelled to show and tell them?

If we lack the conviction or the passion to share God’s love, then perhaps we need to experience God’s love in such a fresh, new way so that we will feel compelled to share it.

This week, we begin the series Share the Love. In it we will discover what it means to really live a lifestyle that is the ultimate reflection of God’s love. We’ll also more deeply examine the common roadblocks to sharing our faith and how to overcome them. My prayer is that we would emerge from this series feeling compelled by the love of God to share our faith and reach out and care for those who are lost.

Keep Pressin’ Ahead,

Chip Ingram
Teaching Pastor, Living on the Edge