Next to personally knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, the greatest joy I know is leading others to Christ and watching them grow spiritually. And you can do that, too. It should be a joyful, happy thing to tell others about your relationship with God and explain how they can have one as well.
I have found that the happiest Christians are the evangelistic ones.
I have also found that the unhappiest Christians are the nitpicky ones. They are so busy arguing about things inside the church and in the surround culture that they miss opportunities to share the gospel and literally change someone’s life forever.
As the old country preacher Vance Havner used to say, ”If we are too busy using our sickles on each other, we will miss the harvest!”
There is a happiness we miss out on if we are not sharing our faith. Don’t miss it!
We Are Called to Give by a God Who Gave
Acts 20:35 tells us, “In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”
God doesn’t just expect us to give. He has set the ultimate example: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God has given His Son. He’s given us His Word, the Bible. He’s given the Holy Spirit to be with us each day. He’s given us an opportunity to not only have eternal life in heaven, but abundant life and joy in the world right now.
God hasn’t blessed you with all the messages you’ve heard in church or read in books over the years for you to keep it to yourself. Have you seen the TV programs that show the lifestyle of what they call “hoarders”? I’m not talking about people who just keep a few things too long. These are people who’ve filled their homes, their garages, and every square inch of their space with stuff. It takes days to clear it out.
Blessed to Be a Blessing
Sometimes as Christians we can be the same way—hoarding all God has given us and not sharing it with others. Remember this: you are blessed to be a blessing. So let’s get the idea out of our heads that sharing our faith is something we can’t do or something miserable to engage in. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus told us there is joy in heaven over every sinner who comes to repentance. (See Luke 15:7.) If heaven gets excited, we should get excited, too!
No doubt about it, new believers are the lifeblood of the church. They also are the lifeblood of the Christian. We all need new believers in our lives. We need to deepen and ground them. In turn, they reignite and excite us.
You show me a church that doesn’t have a constant flow of new Christians coming in, and I’ll show you a church that’s stagnating.
We have a choice: evangelize or fossilize.
This blog post has been adapted from the Tell Someone Bible Study authored by Greg Laurie and published by Lifeway.