One of
our workers knows exactly what it's like to live Jesus out loud with his
family in a hard-to-reach place of the world. Writing from the heart of Africa , he says...
What does it take to live Jesus out loud? The
first thing I think of is telling people about Christ. Now, granted, I
have an evangelist’s heart, so my bent is in that direction, but sometimes we
get lost in the ‘how’ of it all.
At times, we are so relational that we miss an important opportunity. We focus solely on building relationships with our non-believing acquaintances without making Jesus a natural part of that relationship right from the start. So what happens? We have a real heart to see the person come to know the Lord, we get to know him or her, and we become good friends. And then, uh oh, somehow now we have to find a way to introduce the most important person in our life, our very worldview, to the neighbour we have been cultivating a relationship with for some time. And because we haven’t mentioned Jesus before, it becomes very awkward to do so now.
As if we are trying to trick our new friend.
Living out loud means not only being the hands and
feet of Jesus, but also the voice of the gospel. Our message, when shared
in truth and love, brings honor to God and shows love and respect to our
friends. But we actually need to speak about Jesus. In my context, here
in the heart of Africa , I have to remind myself
of this every time I walk outside my door where all of my neighbors are
Muslim. They have never been told who Jesus really is, so I owe it to
them to be both loving and bold in my encounters with them.
My passion is to live Jesus out loud among people who
don’t know Him. In our particular setting, that means two international
flights and a three-day drive across the Sahel of Africa. The result of
such a journey means arriving at a destination where I get to spend time
with whole tribes who, as yet, do not have even one believer among
them.
So how can we live out loud for Jesus? Let’s ask
the Lord to help us, and then look for opportunities, difficult though some may
be. Once we find them, let’s love people – the Shema in action. And let’s make sure they don’t think we are
just good people, but that they know we love and follow the great God. And how that same great God –
revealed in Jesus - loves them.
For more
information visit www.pioneers.org.au
or see
Pioneers of Next blog: Surrender: Upside Down or
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