People often talk to me about how best to spread the good news about Jesus, how to talk to non-Christians about God and his grace and love.
But the best way to tell it is to show it. To quote a famous sports company, just do it.
They say actions speak louder than words, they often do, especially in the age of media spin we seem to live in today, where people's words often mean nothing
I admit I'm not the best at living it out, I often get it wrong. I often treat people badly, or think and sometimes in the past I've even said cruel things about them. I often hold grudges I shouldn't. I often find it hard to forgive.
But at the end of the day I'm always reminded of the simple truth, that I need to do these things. Then I ask God to forgive me, and if necessary the person involved.
The thing is you see, that living out your faith is a much more powerful and effective way to spread the message of Jesus than simply talking about it. Its much harder to live out your faith, and that makes it more powerful when we do. Especially when it comes to forgiveness.
Doing it makes it real. It makes it true. It makes it authentic. It shows it means something to you if you actually make take some action to back up what you say. There's no point in talking about how great Jesus is, unless you show it through how you live, by what you do, by how you treat people, how you respond to people.
If you don't then people are going follow the easy route to thinking that all Christians are hypocrites and Christianity is not worth their time. And they will have every justification for doing so.
Jesus modelled practicing what you preach for us perfectly. He spoke about the greatest kind of love, of giving your life for your friends, and then went and did it for all of us. He showed us that it was real. That God's love for us is real and true and that Jesus was who He said He was. It was the greatest example to us all.
Not all of us have to die for our faith, or to prove how true it is. None of us will get it perfect all the time, we will make mistakes. But we go back, we apologise and we choose another way. We do it in private and in public. We show people what Christianity is really about.
Love. Peace. Justice. Mercy. Forgiveness. Grace. Servanthood. Sacrifice.
If people see those things in action, even just a little, they will start to see for themselves that Jesus and the Christian faith is authentic, true, real and very relevant today. We won't need to say much, the path will already be open for us to speak into
Just do it.
The rest will follow.
