Introducing Others to Christ.

Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Notice that the disciples are going out to evangelize; in other words telling and living the good news of Christ's salvation. They are going out and about to teach and to tell others about Jesus in action and in words.

I heard one of my peers say something recently that made me think that there is a right and a wrong way to evangelize. He was telling a story where he was talking to one of his friends about Christ and how he died for our sins. He told them why we believe what we believe and so on. Then, when he was wrapping things up he said this, "basically if you don't have Jesus in your life, you're screwed."

It's a good point I suppose on how we feel sometimes about Jesus from this side, but I think it's a little extreme to say that to those who aren't followers quite yet. If I wasn't a Christian I don't know if I would be encouraged by those last few words. Those words are bit offensive and again if I wasn't a Christian I would probably think "Man I've been living my life completely wrong all this time" and as a result I would just feel like a super bad person.

Then again, I think it all goes back to choice of words that I've talked about time and time again. Maybe it was just a mistake. Maybe he really didn't say that to the person. After I heard that, and was in some disbelief, I realized I had to move on as it was probably just a mistake and we all make mistakes.

We should all learn from this. When we teach the Word, we need to be careful what we say. Trust in God and ask God to give you the right words to say as you go out on a mission to bring others to Christ. While it is great to share this info to others, our words and how we present them can really be the ultimate moment before one decides to come to Christ.

"If you teach men that God is the source of their pleasure and sin is the source of their pain, they will run to God and away from sin." ~Jacquelyn K. Heasley