How Would You Respond?

You can Bible thump, preach till your blue in the face, take on some of the most challenging theological debates out there, and it won’t mean jack crap to a person who is struggling right now.

The reason? It’s not soul-deep honesty. 

People want to know why we believe. 

If someone came up to you right now, what would you say? 

Would you quote Scripture or hand out a brochure, or could you look at them and tell them a story of something God did for you that cannot be explained away?

Would your love, joy, and thankfulness shine through every word?

Would your heart match your smile? 

Would you shed tears in front of a stranger and bare your soul to show them what God has done for you?

I will. 

I have.

I will open up and share the horrendous parts of my life with a voice full of hope and peace.

I will smile with tears in my eyes as I recall past traumas, and I will show my humanity and God’s love in the same breath.

I will hold them, comfort them, cry with them, and love them. I don’t care about their “sins” in that moment, because guess what, I too am a sinner, my calling at that moment is to be the person that God uses so they feel His hug.

I needed love, I needed safety, I needed to see hope, before I could walk away from many bad choices over the years.

We are the lamps unto this world; we shine for them. 

When you are lost and see that distant beacon of light in the distance, you breathe a sigh of relief. As you get closer, your world starts to light up, and you begin to see clearly the world you are in and the world you can choose to walk into. 

And in the darkness, that’s enough to draw someone home.

Be that for the people around you. 

Yes, we are to call out sin and wrong, but there is a time and a place for that; there is a time and place for many ways to evangelize for God, and that should be determined by God, not you. 

But first, let's start with honesty with ourselves. 

Can you drop all pretenses and just be a real human being and talk with someone and just let God’s light shine through you without hitting them over the head with a Bible or condemning them in the first sentence?

To make disciples, you first have to be one.

The Bible never sugarcoated anything. It laid people’s lives bare for the whole world to see, their flaws, failures, doubts, and all. God didn’t hide their humanity; He used it.

© Jane Isley