Authors note: Be forewarned that this post is not for the faint of heart. I intend no offense to fellow believers, and I hope that my readers can assign positive intent to my words
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations…
Matthew 28:19 NLT
…I have to get this out. Something has been on my mind this week after reading a fellow blogger’s commentary on “witnessing”. Now, I’ve come a long way from my sometimes overbearing, sometimes judgmental, usually (well always?) condemning spiritual upbringing. I was one of the ones who was guilt-ridden because I was too afraid to “share my faith”. I was left feeling condemned and less-than because I was not corageous enough to walk up to complete strangers and tell them that they needed Jesus. Yes, I’ve come a long way.
In recent years, I’ve come to learn that many of the spiritual ideas of my youth were askewed. Well meaning folk simply interpreted the words of Jesus the way they had been taught, and the way the ones before them had been taught. This, without looking into the real meaning behind the ink on the the fine gilded edge paper.
So, I’m wondering this week…What exactly did Jesus command us to do when he issued His Great Commission? Was it ever really suggested in the Bible that we should throw caution to the wind and approach every complete stranger we come across at the local mall, grocery or restaurant and assail them with the Good News? Stay with me on this, because I do have a point. I promise.
You see, in studying the scriptures, I just don’t see it. Even in the Great Commission, we are told to simply “make disciples”. We aren’t encouraged to tote a Bible to school or work every day (c’mon children of the 70′s and 80′s, I know you’re with me on this one–what good Christian kid from those generations wasn’t encouraged to do this?!). The disciples didn’t even have a personal copy of Old Testament scripture, and the New Testament was still being lived-out.
Jesus didn’t instruct us to pass out “Hell Fire and Brimstone” tracts with our trick or treat candy. I can’t find the Four Spiritual Laws, no offense to Dr. Bright, laid out in a neat little package within scripture.
What I do see over and again is grace and acts. Acts of kindness, acts of love, acts of compassion. When I look at the life of Jesus, I see a gentle man who went about demonstrating the good news. When I look at his followers in scripture, I see them demonstrating the love that He showed them. Blind eyes were opened, lame men walked, hungry children were fed. When I really stop and think of the logistics of “witnessing” as I was taught in my youth, it just seems so off. When I read stories of the disciples of Jesus, I see them healing the infirmed, not handing them a gospel tract.
I think part of the problem is that it seems too easy to just feed people…it’s too easy to clothe them or help them find a home. Surely that’s not what Jesus meant when he said to “make disciples”!? We get so caught up in thinking that sharing the good news has to be scary or difficult or result in some earth-shattering conversion experience, that we forget the simple grace that Jesus exhibited while he was still walking this road himself. When I read stories like this one, and I see people actually demonstrating the good news with no strings attached, it pulls at my heart. It’s not about preaching to people and having them say a 5 line sinner’s prayer, friends. It’s about serving, and showing people who Jesus really is.
So, there you have it…who am I to judge my fellow believers for the way they choose to share Jesus? I suppose I’m totally out of line, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Thanks for listening. I’d love to hear others’ thoughts, and I’ll definitely be back to this subject later…
