SHOW AND TELL

Last night at Bible Study, the discussion came up about sharing our faith with others. As I suspect is the case with most churches and with most Christians, the vast majority of us are not actively witnessing to others or sharing our faith with them. Knowing this, I have preached sermons on why and how to witness and given classes on evangelism.

Still, I am constantly told, "Well, I don't have to tell anyone about Jesus. I show them through my life." Granted. But, I have always contended that unless you don't tell them why you are living the way you are living or why you are ministering to them the way you are, they won't have any idea why you are doing it. They won't be able to tell is you're a member of a church or a secular club devoted to good works.

I constantly run into people who say things like, "I was talking to Bill the other day, and he told me he went to your church. I didn't know he was a Christian." Bill may have been living a good and holy life and touching people through acts of love and service, but if he doesn't tell them why he is doing it, how are they to know? I think the witness of Scripture is quite clear -- we must go out and tell others about Christ in addition to just giving them an example through our lives.

This morning I read an article by Rick Warren that I thought was an excellent treatise on the reasons why we need to do evangelism. You can reach the article by clicking on this link. I particularly liked this statement:

"Many people in our congregations wonder how they should go about sharing their faith. You do it two ways: you’ve got to show it and share it.

Remember "show and tell” from your school days? That’s what God wants us to do. He wants us to help others visualize it with our lives and verbalize it with our mouths."

Let's practice a little "show and tell" this week and share with others the good news of Jesus Christ.