Afraid to Share Your Faith?
The fear we feel when it comes to sharing our faith is very real, even though it’s irrational.
If we were going to be burned at the stake for being a Christian, or thrown to hungry lions, then our fear would make sense. But it’s nevertheless very real and it can paralyze us if we listen to it. So how can we just ignore it? Imagine you see a four-year-old child fall into an icy swimming pool. I’m sure that you would ignore any thought of the cold water and immediately dive in, because you are thinking of something infinitely more important than your comfort: the life of a human being. That’s the mentality you and I must have with evangelism. We need to forget about how our flesh feels and instead think about what awaits people if they die in their sins.
Here is something else to think about. How would you and I describe the character of a person who could stand at the edge of the pool and let the child drown because the water was too cold? Then we need to apply that name to ourselves, if we let fear hinder us from speaking to the lost.
Do you remember how Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was struck dumb because he didn’t believe God’s promise? The angel said to him, “But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time” (Luke 1:20).
Perhaps you and I can identify with Zacharias. It’s our lack of faith in God that causes us to be struck dumb when it comes to sharing our faith. If we fully trusted God, we wouldn’t hesitate to open our mouths.
We are soldiers in the most real of wars. No soldier fights on his own whims. I dare to say that few want to enter the heat of battle, but they go because they are not their own. They go because they’ve been instructed to go. That’s the essence of soldiering. So as you enter the battlefield, keep in mind that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the conquering of it.
If we really care for the lost, each of us must learn to push aside the fear of man and replace it with a healthy fear of God. How could we not obey Almighty God when He has commanded us to speak to the lost?
It is a sad testimony to our lack of love that we had to be commanded to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). It reveals something about our sinful character. When we are held captive to our fears it reveals our lack of love. What would you think of a doctor who had a cure to cancer in his hand, and had to be commanded to take it to his dying patients? Imagine if you asked him why he was hesitating and he said, “I’m afraid they will laugh at me” or, “It’s not my gifting to take it to them,” or, “I don’t know what to say to them.” As Charles Spurgeon said, “We must be ashamed at the mere suspicion of unconcern.” So if we lack enough love to witness or we lack love while witnessing, we need to get on our knees and ask afresh for the help of God.
Too often our eyes are dry in prayer and that is reflected in our preaching. Catherine Booth said that if our listeners can’t see tears in our eyes, they should hear tears in our voice.
One observer of George Whitefield said, “I could hardly bear such unreserved use of tears,” for Whitefield was “frequently so overcome, that, for a few seconds, you would suspect he never could recover.” Whitefield said of his tears, “You blame me for weeping, but how can I help it when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are on the verge of destruction?” Let us pray for a heart of compassion for the lost and love them enough to warn them of their fate.
Don’t neglect to pray before you preach. Like Paul, pray for boldness to preach the gospel. Be prayerful while you are preaching, and pray after you preach, because Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing. If He saw fit to pray all night, we need to pray all the time.
Don’t listen to your fears or discouraging thoughts. The time will come when your spirit will be willing but your flesh will be weak because you are old and feeble. Imagine sitting in a convalescent home, thinking about how you wasted your youth pursuing your own pleasures when people were going to Hell. We often apply the verse, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1) to the ungodly, when we should apply it to ourselves.
Always keep in mind that you will never be free from fear, especially just before you get up to speak in the open air. Overcome it through thoughts of the fate of the ungodly, the sacrifice of the cross, and the fact that God is watching you. Think of my friend who said that it was less fearful to skydive for the first time than to open-air evangelize, then consider the worst-case scenario if something goes wrong with both. In skydiving, if the parachute fails to open or becomes twisted, you fall to an unspeakably terrifying death. In open-air witnessing, you may make a fool of yourself and dent your ego. There is no comparison. So just do it, and God will be with you.
