Affirmations & Actions

I recently wrote a post entitled “Jesus, The New Standard”. In that post, I spoke about how I have struggled throughout my time as a Christ follower when it came to sharing my faith with others.

I admitted to having Old Testament thinking of not interacting with those who don’t know Christ because they may lead me away from Him. I am now striving to have New Testament behaviors dominate my life. Jesus, in the book of Matthew, reached out and touched a person suffering from leprosy thus making him clean. I want to live as Christ lived; loving the lost and hurting.

Now that I have a more willing heart, my behaviors need to follow. Allow me to share two methods I have discovered to be useful in sharing my faith.

Affirmations – The Power of Words

My wife and I drive older cars. When you drive older cars, they need attention at times. I was in Napa buying something for one of our cars, when I noticed the man behind the counter had an unfinished tattoo on his arm. I remember being interested in the design of it and wondered why he picked it. So, I asked him about it.

His face lit up. You see, tattoos tell a story about the person and a lot of people (who look like me, white and middle aged) will look down upon people with tattoos. He was surprised that I honestly showed interest in his tat. So, he told me the story. He did not stop there. He showed me other tats that he had too. It was great.

I have not been back to NAPA since then, but you can bet that I’ll have to buy something at some point. And when I go in, I will make a bee line to his lane. I want to earn an opportunity to share my faith with him and that begins with me showing interest in him as a person. It begins by me showing the love of Christ before I begin to tell him about the love of Christ.

You can do the same. Who do you see on a regular basis that you can find something about them to affirm? Take that step of faith and engage this person. Remember, you have to show him the love of Christ before you can tell him about it.

Actions – The Power of Behaviors

A young lady, who attends our church, had her father pass away in an accident. She asked if the church would host the visitation and then allow the family to host a meal afterwards. We agreed and hosted both events on a Friday night.

Her father loved motorcycles and was a part of a biker group. So, at his visitation, our church had a very large number of bikers in our parking lot and throughout our building. I will be the first to admit, that we are not used to hosting that many bikers. We were not sure how things would go that night, but we were excited to watch it unfold.

During the meal, staff and volunteers had a chance to serve between 150 to 200 people who stayed to eat. We kept the food hot and the dishes full. We refilled tea and coffee. We brought deserts to their tables. We showed them the love of Christ with our actions. Not one of the staff or volunteers quoted a scripture to a single guest, but I guarantee they felt Jesus’ words from Matthew 10:42, And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water…

We were being Christ to those who may not normally get the opportunity to experience the unconditional love of Christ. We were earning the right to share our faith with those who may not know Him as the leader of their life. We later found out that two of the people we served agreed to go to church with their grandmothers based on how we interacted with them! Praise God!

You may struggle with words, but what ways can you be a blessing to those around you who don’t know Christ? Your behaviors will open the door for your words. You need to BE Christ before you can tell them about Christ.

What stories can you share about how your words and behaviors have opened the door for you to share your faith?