Fear and Joy
When I share my faith in Jesus Christ with others I always experience two feelings - fear and joy.
There is always fear that accompanies being a witness. You are afraid of how the person will receive your witness about Jesus. You don't know if they will be offended. You don't know if they will think you're crazy You don't know if they will think that you are narrow-minded and arrogant. You don't know if they will brand you as an intolerant hater. You risk them thinking that you are irrelevant and out of touch with life in the 21st century.
Or there is the fear that your witness will be "ineffective". You fear that will not have the answer the person is looking for. You may be afraid that you might say something in a wrong way. You might fear that you will pour out your life and heart and love for Jesus and that it will just fall on dear ears and a unreceptive heart.
But I have learned that I do not have to be fearful or anxious that I am going to witness "ineffectively" because I know that every time that I share my faith or have a spiritual conversation with another person I am planting seeds or watering seeds planted by another but it is God's job to cause the seeds to grow (1 Cor. 3:5-7).
I have found that every time that I have moved past these fears, sharing my faith in and journey with Jesus, I have felt the greatest joy I've ever known. Jesus is the greatest person ever and He has changed my life forever. In Jesus I know true love and joy. There is no greater gift that I could give than to share Jesus with another person.
-Bret Deneson
1 comments:
Bret, I totally agree about the fear/joy thing. Sometimes moving beyond the fear is the biggest challenge. Another challenge is the whole community thing you always talk so passionately about. Developing community goes hand in hand with sharing our faith, and developing community takes times, effort, and requires sacrifice. Sometimes it just seems easier to avoid it. That's the selfish/pride side talking. thoughts?
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