Sharing the Joy

A while back, I mentioned how evangelizing is one of the things that I really am bad at outside of writing this blog. I feel uncomfortable putting my beliefs out there, as if everyone needs to believe what I believe. I get frustrated when others do it to me, when they catch me off-guard in my home or at school wanting to talk. And I need to just get over it, because this is something I have been called to do as a child of God. I am supposed to tell people about wonderful God is, how good God is, and how blessed we all are to have such a loving God.

While providing a reference for someone last evening, I was overcome by the interviewer's very casual conversation about God. Sure, he knew that I ran a church camp, making me fair game for any kind of religious conversation, but his faith and testimony to it was as tangible as seeing him leading worship in a church-setting. This man was evangelizing in a way I wish I could, so naturally that it was just part of our conversations about his potential employee, our camps, and how he is a full-time camp director (jealous!!).

In the book of Acts, we see the joy that can come from evangelizing, as the Apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin despite warnings that they needed to stop teaching about Christ in Jerusalem. And instead of stopping or going elsewhere, the Apostles rejoiced that they were worthy of enough to be suffer in their Lord's name. (Acts 5 27:32) Can you imagine rejoicing because you've been arrested for talking about God? Probably not.

I think the more important thing here is how much they wanted to share about God and God's Son. That this was something they truly wanted to do, and did. Regardless of how people felt about it, or how they felt about it, they were answering God's call to share with their peers, to evangelize despite what they had been told by others in positions of power. And this doesn't have to be aggressive or rude, it can be as simple as a phone conversation mid-interview.

God is good all the time, but how would people know if we don't share that with them? This isn't about being #blessed on Instagram or Facebook. It's about authentic conversations that give God credit when God moves in your life, like finding you a job that allows you to law and camp this summer. Or that as the wedding draws closer, more and more offers to help keep coming up, just in time to save you frustration and struggle. And we should share that in our day-top-day lives.

Tota tua.