Our Stories
A Tough Conversation
By Aaron Soderlund | posted 07/26/2007
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)
In college, my roommate and I used to say that we 'lived by example'. This was our excuse for not talking about Christ to other people. While I still believe that is a very important part of being a Christian, it isn't everything. There is still a time that talking is the necessary means of delivering the message of Christ.
For me, I don't do well when it comes to telling someone about the love of Jesus. I don't quite understand why. I can talk about anything. But when it comes to Jesus, I freeze up. Or I don't make sense. I feel like I have to come up with the correct answer or that person is never going to believe in Jesus. Then, I think, gosh, I don't have the answers. I'm not a very good Christian if I can't even talk about my faith. It spirals down from there and in my mind, that poor soul that I was trying to help save just fell further down the I-don't-get-it hole. That's a lot of pressure.
I don't think that Jesus always makes sense. I don't think that He needs to make sense. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to save us. But that doesn't really make sense to someone on the outside, does it? It's not rational. It is our faith that helps it make sense. So I when I try to explain Jesus to someone, I'm explaining something that doesn't really make sense and trying to make sense out of it. I try to rationalize something that isn't rational. No wonder I sound like an idiot.
Here's the thing though, it doesn't have to make sense. Love doesn't make sense, but we all know it exists. It causes us to do things that we very likely never would have done otherwise. Just as it is with Jesus. We know that He is real. We can feel that He is real. He causes us to make decisions that we probably wouldn't have done had we not known Him.
So why is it that I freeze up when I have the chance to talk about Jesus? Ask me what I think about the Cougars. I promise I won't freeze up on that one! But why do I feel that I might not be able to 'sell' them on this one? Is it because I feel that I have to rationalize, or make sense, out of it all in a way that each person will understand it? I don't know. Jesus isn't asking me to sell Him. He just wants to be known. He gets to do it from there. That's what I need to remember.
God pursues us every day. He pursues others every day. It may only take one sentence from the jumble of words that I spit out for that person to understand Jesus. That's the beauty of a God far more amazing than me. He's done the hard part, yet we get all of the benefits. Shouldn't others get to experience, Him too?
To respond to this message, email Aaron at aaron@windermere.com.
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"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)
In college, my roommate and I used to say that we 'lived by example'. This was our excuse for not talking about Christ to other people. While I still believe that is a very important part of being a Christian, it isn't everything. There is still a time that talking is the necessary means of delivering the message of Christ. For me, I don't do well when it comes to telling someone about the love of Jesus. I don't quite understand why. I can talk about anything. But when it comes to Jesus, I freeze up. Or I don't make sense. I feel like I have to come up with the correct answer or that person is never going to believe in Jesus. Then, I think, gosh, I don't have the answers. I'm not a very good Christian if I can't even talk about my faith. It spirals down from there and in my mind, that poor soul that I was trying to help save just fell further down the I-don't-get-it hole. That's a lot of pressure. I don't think that Jesus always makes sense. I don't think that He needs to make sense. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to save us. But that doesn't really make sense to someone on the outside, does it? It's not rational. It is our faith that helps it make sense. So I when I try to explain Jesus to someone, I'm explaining something that doesn't really make sense and trying to make sense out of it. I try to rationalize something that isn't rational. No wonder I sound like an idiot. Here's the thing though, it doesn't have to make sense. Love doesn't make sense, but we all know it exists. It causes us to do things that we very likely never would have done otherwise. Just as it is with Jesus. We know that He is real. We can feel that He is real. He causes us to make decisions that we probably wouldn't have done had we not known Him. So why is it that I freeze up when I have the chance to talk about Jesus? Ask me what I think about the Cougars. I promise I won't freeze up on that one! But why do I feel that I might not be able to 'sell' them on this one? Is it because I feel that I have to rationalize, or make sense, out of it all in a way that each person will understand it? I don't know. Jesus isn't asking me to sell Him. He just wants to be known. He gets to do it from there. That's what I need to remember. God pursues us every day. He pursues others every day. It may only take one sentence from the jumble of words that I spit out for that person to understand Jesus. That's the beauty of a God far more amazing than me. He's done the hard part, yet we get all of the benefits. Shouldn't others get to experience, Him too? To respond to this message, email Aaron at aaron@windermere.com. |
