Day 13 - Where And When Do I Evangelize?
You can think about the question this way: rather than “Where and when do I evangelize?”, think: “Where and when do I show Christ’s love?”
The answer to this question is laid out in Colossians 4:5-6: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
Jesus never hesitated to show love and neither should we. Though the answer to this question may seem simple, the reality is most would rather not hear it.
The Scriptures give us a clear map when it comes to how we handle ourselves as Christians. When we said “yes” to Jesus being our Lord, we also said “no” to the old us and stepped into the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) we were meant to be. From the moment we made Jesus the LORD of our lives, we should have had a clear understanding of what it means to give over our authority to another. The unfortunate reality is that many of us received Christ under a western ideology. I would say many, if not most, Christians today were not given a clear explanation of what it means to surrender to the rule of Jesus in their lives. Many Christians are only Christian today because the benefits of saying yes, outweighed the cons of saying no.
Though the clear answer to this question is: everywhere and anywhere - we tend to make it another's priority. As Christians we know the word Evangelism can be synonymous with His love being shown through us. By “His love” we refer to John 13:34-35:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
In this command from Jesus Himself, He didn't just stop at “love each other”, He gave us the type of love He desires us to use. He says, "love each other as I have loved you". By specifying this, He removes our subjective definition of love and gives us a measuring stick to compare to. If we simply captured this one statement in its fullness, the need to teach evangelism would be obsolete. The world around us would know us by our love for one another.
Challenge: May we challenge ourselves today to be more aware of His leading to sharing Christ’s everywhere we go (2 Corinthians 5:14). We challenge you to look for the opportunities to give of yourself for another's benefit - not just towards your family, but your neighbors, coworkers, and even strangers. His wish is that none would perish (2 Peter 3:9 John 3:16). May we be more aware of the opportunities He presents to us every day and make His priority's ours.