Why Share The Gospel?

1 John 1:3 "What we have seen and heard we announce5 to you too, so that6 you may have fellowship7 with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ)." (NET Bible)

One of my current favorite parts of the Bible is the sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew's Gospel. In those two chapters, Jesus lays out the foundation of discipleship. Jesus tells us to build our relationship with God through giving, praying, forgiving and fasting. Then (Chapter 7), as our relationship with God becomes close, we are to do a bit of "house cleaning": searching for and removing the sins (logs) from our lives (eyes). After we have done these things, we will find ourselves in a position to ask, seek and knock and God will give, show, and open what we need so that we may do His work.

Today is a good day for us to spend a little bit of time examining our lives. I don't necessarily mean looking for the sins in our lives as much as spending some time with God and letting Him show us all the things He has done for us and with us and even through us. This is an amazing thing to do. Often, when we do this, we find that even (or especially?) in those times that we struggled through, there was God leading us through that valley. Not only that, but when we look back at those good and/or exciting times in our lives we find that God was there too.

Those are the kinds of testimonies that we need to share with others. We need to share that in our good tmes and in our bad times, God is with us. Of course, we also need to share the Gospel and we need to be available for people who wish to receive Christ Jesus as their friend, brother, Lord and Savior, but how much more willing might people be to take that step when we testify about our hope in Christ rather than their dread of the adversary?

Speak to us Lord! Tell us the story of our lives. Describe all of the ways you have helped us and held us up. And teach us Lord. Teach us to share all that you have done fro and through us with those people that You bring into our lives. We ask these thing, not for our own sakes or for our own glory but so that You may be known by others and so that you may be gorified through our interactions with everyone we meet.

Listen to the Spirit's promptings today and, when an opportunity arises, share a little of your faith with some one else. By sharing yourself, you will really be sharing Christ and that is a wonderful gift, indeed.

May you be blessed and a blessing today,

Christopher

(THE VOICE: a devotional)