How do I share my faith?

Last week while reading I Thessalonians I came across a short verse that has always guided my understanding of what it looks like to “effectively” share faith with others. Paul writes to this church…

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.

I Thessalonians 2:8

Each one of us in just a few minutes could probably name 10-20 different examples of Christians sharing their faith in an “ineffective” and sometimes very counterproductive way. Some of those examples might even come from our own past efforts.

But I love the way Paul broadens our understanding of sharing faith to include the idea of “sharing life.”

It’s Paul’s way of saying, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Effectively sharing the Gospel should always include having the courage to share our lives as well.

The interesting take away for me from that idea is that depending on how we think about “witnessing” to our faith, we usually do one of those things really well.

• Some are really good are sharing the Gospel with other people while keeping a safe distance from their “target.”
• Some are really good at sharing life and building relationships but lack the courage to share with another person what God means to them in their life.

Paul says both are necessary.

When we have the wisdom and courage to do both, someone’s life is changed forever.

Categories: Faith & Culture