How To Proclaim Jesus To Your World

It’s not as hard as you may think.

“GO into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation.”     Mark 16:15

No-one enjoys being ‘Bible bashed’ so what does the above verse look like in practical ways?

Let me clarify. I am not talking about sharing with people on a large scale. I am talking about how we can share Jesus with others as we go about our day to day lives.

Firstly, notice it doesn’t say that we are to “Go into all the world and bring them to church so that they can get saved.” I don’t know about you but the ‘church’ has hurt a great many people and until the Church (the body of Christ) get their act together (I am speaking to myself first in this), why would the world want to go there? From the world’s perspective what do we have, as Believers, that they could want? I certainly haven’t been a great ambassador for Christ at times. How about you?

Are there great churches? Absolutely but it isn’t often that you hear stories of people coming to church, on their own to find Jesus. It does happen but not often. There are more people outside of the Church than there are in it. I once spoke to a stunning looking young lady who did not know one Bible story, had never seen a Bible (what?!), she had no idea who Jesus was, and she was so completely broken. At first I said, “God has given me a word for you.” Christianese. Dumb move. Of course, she had NO IDEA what I was talking about and replied in a sad voice, “Would that word be, ‘stupid’?” Her answer broke my heart. I realised what I had done and I corrected myself, and she gave me the honour of sharing the good news of the Gospel with her (without the Christianese). She didn’t surrender to Jesus right then but she now knows the truth. I haven’t seen her again but I pray that the seed will be watered by Holy Spirit.

The world doesn’t understand us or God. We have to remember that.

People who don’t know Jesus don’t understand words like ‘salvation’, ‘redemption’, ‘being saved’, ‘atonement’, etc. Believers have a vocabulary that people don’t understand. It’s a foreign language to the world.

I have been pondering the following question for a long time: “How do I proclaim Jesus in my world?” Each time I come across someone at swimming lessons, the supermarket, the shops, the markets, wherever I am I think, “How can I leave a deposit of Jesus in this person’s life? How can I preach the Gospel without preaching the Gospel?” Do you ever wonder this?

How do you reveal to someone that they actually NEED Jesus when they seem to be happy and have everything they want? I have discovered, to my great relief, that this isn’t solely my job …. or yours. It’s mainly the job of Holy Spirit.

We absolutely need to pray for Holy Spirit to speak to people and that He will reveal Jesus to them and their need of Him. This is vital. But there is a part that we play.

So, What’s The Answer?

Part of the answer lies in loving one another (both believers and unbelievers alike) – regardless of what they do. Is this easy? Nope, at least it isn’t for me. Do we have to like what they do? Not at all. We aren’t called to like people. We are called to LOVE people. What does this look like? Look at 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. This is sometimes referred to as ‘The Love Chapter’. It is recited at a lot of weddings. I would like you to notice one thing in particular.

There are no mention of feelings.

I would like to propose to you that love is first and foremost an action verb, “a doing word”. Think about it. Does God like everything we do? No, but He CHOOSES to love us anyway.

Love is a choice. It always has been and always will be.

” … may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all….”            1 Thessalonians 3:12

This tells us that we can ask the Lord to increase our love for other people therefore, it is possible. When we love one another without discrimination, we are witnessing to others the goodness, the kindness, and the love of God the Father. God loves showing kindness, love and goodness to people – regardless of whether they acknowledge Him or not. Shouldn’t we be the same?

What Do People Think After You Leave Them?

I have been trying to teach our children for many years that the most important thing when we are speaking to someone is to make them feel listened to, to feel heard and this in turn, helps them to feel important. The only thing was, I realised that I wasn’t walking my talk. I mean I was to people ‘out there’ but when it came to my own family, I stank at it. I apologised to my family, I repented to God, asked for their forgiveness and asked Him to remind me to do this every time I came in contact with someone, anyone – family or otherwise. I am a work in progress.

How Do You Proclaim Jesus To Your World?

I believe it’s by being kind to people, even when they don’t deserve it, showing people love, even when you don’t want to – after all, Jesus does that for you and me on a continual basis doesn’t He. These are practical things. You can’t be kind to people from afar. You can in one sense by speaking kindly about them and not criticising, but ultimately, they won’t know it unless you physically interact with them.

The best way is to ask Jesus. Ask Him each day, “What can I do today to show someone Your love in a practical way?” It might just be as simple as sending an encouraging text or a physical card. Yes, people still do that. Ok, I am a nerd. It could be forgiving someone who has hurt you and asking for their forgiveness. It maybe making a meal for someone you know who is having a hard time. It might be buying groceries for someone who is struggling (We have had this happen and our children still talk about it. You know who you are and we are eternally grateful!) It might be as big as making a house payment for someone. There are so many things you and I can do.

Jesus is full of creative ways to show His love to people through you. Ask Him today what you can do and get excited. It truly is more blessed to give than receive!

I would love to hear of the ways that you show the love of Jesus to others. Write some ideas in the comments below. You never know, you might inspire someone else to follow your lead.

Thanks for joining me here.

Live full and be blessed.

(Photo credit: www.pexels.com)