There is an
old story I’ve heard for most of my life. Our pastor shared it this morning and
I immediately thought of another application. I don’t know who told it
originally but it goes something like this:
One day a mother looked out the
window and saw her children playing with some baby skunks which they thought
they were kittens. Horrified, the mother began to yell for her children to run
so they picked up the baby skunks and ran.
Unfortunately,
we in the church are much like this well-intentioned mom. When we share Christ
with others, we fail to give important details. Whether we fear offending or
simply lack knowledge ourselves, we fail to explain that becoming a Christian
means turning away from our sins. This is called repentance and it means to go
in a 180-degree direction from the path we were on. For many, they do not
realize that this means leaving their old sinful lifestyle behind or even faulty
beliefs. Like the children picking up the baby skunks, they bring their sinful
lifestyle and faulty beliefs with them. The children did not understand that
their mother’s intent was to run away from the skunks, mainly the mother skunk
that would not be far away. The threat was the skunks but they did not have
this piece of information and likewise, sin is the threat the new believer
needs to run from but they don’t have this little nugget of information.
If we are
going to share Jesus with others, we need to give them the whole picture, not a
watered-down version. Every believer is called to share Christ but we have the
obligation to be completely forthright. If you are a
believer who wants to share your faith with others, study so that you know what
you believe and will have the knowledge to share. Then pray! God will guide you
in what you should say but prayer is the most important thing you can do. After
all, He is the one who speaks to the heart. He just chooses us to be His
instruments. If possible, try building a relationship so that you can disciple
the person. Get to know them and as the relationship grows, so does your understanding
of what the person believes. Walk beside them, not in front of or behind them
and always be sincere.
May God richly
bless you as you reach out to others for the kingdom~
.
