The Motive For Sharing Our Faith
Let me ask you this: what's the motive for sharing anything ever? Isn't it because you want somebody to join you in your emotional state? For example, in South Africa, when we sit without electricity, everybody gets really angry. But we don't just complain to ourselves. We long for somebody else to moan and groan with somebody who could share in our anger. We love to pull somebody into our emotional state. It's much more enjoyable when it's shared!
Sharing joy
The same goes for good things right? When Shereen and I came back from our trip to London all we wanted to do was tell everybody about it, show them photos! And even when we were there, I remember every day we'd come back to my uncle's home and tell him “we've been here, we went there, we did this!” We discovered that a shared joy is better by far than a joy withheld.
If you love sport, it's the same thing, right? If your rugby team wins, you want to tell everybody. And when your rugby team loses, you want to get angry with other people. Or if you watched a great show or a great movie, you want to tell somebody about it so that you can share that joy with them.
Sharing Our Joy in Jesus
The motive behind sharing Jesus, friends, is a shared joy, a shared joy is far better than a joy withheld. And of course, the stakes are much higher when sharing our faith. Telling somebody about your trip or your team's victory or a great movie - if they couldn't care less about what you're saying, it doesn't matter. It's not going to affect your relationship.
But when you tell someone about Jesus and they're not interested, it could make things awkward. I understand.
Sharing is Better Than Witholding
But oh, don't keep your joy withheld! Share it! If you have experienced the great work of Jesus freeing you and filling you and touching you and helping you - share it. Friends, the motive for sharing the faith is not because it's our duty (although it is,) but it's because it's our joy.
I pray that today you and I will both have an opportunity to share our joy in Christ with somebody else.
