I shared a testimony yesterday in an online discussion, and was labeled by someone who was triggered by it as “holier than thou.” I tried reasoning with the guy, but got no response. I came to realize one of two things must have happened (or both did): 1, he misread my intent (which is easy to do on a text-based platform) or 2, he was convicted by what I said, and, instead of listening to what was said, took it as a personal slight, even though it wasn’t in any way shape or form geared at anyone else but me, my family, and our testimony. He addressed the issue, mocking me in another post, but never directly confronting me, or addressing the conversation. While this may sound petty (and it might be), there’s a teachable moment here: when we share the Gospel and share our testimony, it WILL trigger someone else to response negatively, and it will either be because of misunderstanding, or, more likely, because someone is convicted and doesn’t want to change. Share the Gospel anyway.
And Why? Because we’re promised no more time than we have but now. We have no more breath in our lungs promised to us than we have now. The great work of the Church by the Holy Spirit is the sharing of the Gospel, and we need to share it now! We may lose friends, but in losing friends may also plant seeds. People may despise us for a time, but isn’t it better for them to hate us now and get to heaven in Christ Jesus later? When we focus on people’s feelings about us, it hinders us from the full work of the Gospel that Jesus Christ calls us all to share. Share the Gospel, share your testimony, share Jesus, and let Him sort out the rest!
John 6:52-71
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
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