Have you ever tried to share your faith and had someone argue with you about it? Are you scared to share Jesus because you may not be accepted by your friends or family if you do? Maybe you’ve shared your faith and they just don’t get it … they just keep arguing with you about it.
The number one thing you have to remember is that it’s not your job to change their mind. It’s your job to point them to Jesus and let Him change their heart.
Here are five ways you can point people to Jesus without arguing over your faith:
1. Tell your story. No one can argue your personal story: what your life was like before you met Jesus, how you met Jesus, and what your life has been like since you met Jesus. It doesn’t usually make people defensive when you are talking about yourself and what Jesus has done for you.
2. Be consistent. It’s hard to hit a moving target. It is hard for someone to understand what Jesus has done in your life when one week you are strong in your convictions, but the next week you live how you want to live. This doesn’t mean you can no longer make mistakes – because you will. We all do. Sometimes people learn more by how we respond to our own mistakes than anything we could say. This just means you are consistently seeking direction from God and striving to live by it daily.
3. Love them. A very meaningful way we can show love to people – especially those who live differently than we do – is to show them grace. We don’t want to stand before them and judge the things we believe they are doing wrong. We want to love them for who they are, regardless of the choices they are making. When Jesus said that “Love your neighbor as yourself” was the next greatest commandment to loving God (Matthew 22:37-39), he didn’t put any conditions on it. He simply said to love them.
4. Serve them. There is no better way to get someone’s attention than to serve them and meet their needs. When you are trying to tell someone about Jesus, but they have a significant need not being met, your words are meaningless to them. However, when you put them above yourself and meet their needs, they are much more open to listening to you. Jesus himself says he “did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). How can you go out of your way to serve someone who you can’t talk to about Jesus?
5. Pray for them. One of the greatest sources of power that we, as Christ followers, have is prayer. This is our way of asking the God of the universe for something. We are children of God when we accept Jesus as our savior, so it is like asking our dad help us out. What father doesn’t want to bless his kids? Especially when what we are asking brings him more glory! Jesus tells us that when we ask in His name (John 16:24), with the right motives (James 4:3), that we will receive. Pray for Jesus to reveal himself to them. Pray that Jesus would use you in the process. Pray for God to show you how you can better love and serve them. Pray for boldness to tell your story.
Steve Pearson is an Evangelism Specialist TBC and Harvest Field Team Leader; Harvest Five/Southeast TN. Contact Steve at spearson@tnbaptist.org.
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