Telling others

[Grolsch]

I am naturally a very shy person and have few friends. As a Christian who has hit rock bottom, but is now finally on the way up due to God's grace I feel that I am finally discovering the faith that I have been seeking for so long.

My conundrum is telling other people. This may seem trivial, but the thought of telling others scares the wits out of me. Lets be honest here, in the general secular population which we all must spend a good proportion of our day through the workplace etc Christians tend to be sneered and laughed at. I feel that my struggle to 'fit in' will be made even more difficult with my revelation of being a born again Christian.

 

[Echetus]

My opinion, is that people who would sneer at you for Christ arent worth being friends with. However it is our job as Christians to preach the word. And being new to devotion, try reading the Bible; it is the word of God. We can discover God without the Bible through spirituality, but assuredly itd take an entire life time to learn the Bible anew.

 

[oi_antz]

I am naturally a very shy person and have few friends. As a Christian who has hit rock bottom, but is now finally on the way up due to God's grace I feel that I am finally discovering the faith that I have been seeking for so long.

My conundrum is telling other people. This may seem trivial, but the thought of telling others scares the wits out of me. Lets be honest here, in the general secular population which we all must spend a good proportion of our day through the workplace etc Christians tend to be sneered and laughed at. I feel that my struggle to 'fit in' will be made even more difficult with my revelation of being a born again Christian.

So don't go around and tell them, instead just be a witness that when the question arises you will stand for the truth. Don't let them hammer you down, you have an eternal glory that far outweighs anything carnal (such as shame).

Jesus was the only one who suffered persecution to the extent you are describing, and the enemy wants you to feel afraid of belonging to God. Pray to Jesus and ask Him to carry the burden while you gain strength.

I knew a guy for a couple of years without testifying to him, when I saw him in a bar he slipped an opinion "xxx calls himself Christian" and I had to correct him "actually, xxx doesn't know Jesus" - "ok ok" he said. You just can't argue with the truth, but don't go round blowing a trumpet! The Bible says to keep our good deeds hidden that we don't boast, but certainly you do need to step in when it is necessary to correct someone's wrong opinion about God.

 

[crossnote]

God has supplied different parts of His Body with different gifts. Don't feel guilty if your gift is say, teaching or encouraging and not evangelizing and you don't evangelize but you find it easy to encourage other Christians. I find there is a lot of 'guilt trippin' amongst Christians, especially in the area of evangelism..'everyone has to go witnessing'...not necessarily true. Go where God has gifted you.

 

[Peripatetic]

God has supplied different parts of His Body with different gifts. Don't feel guilty if your gift is say, teaching or encouraging and not evangelizing and you don't evangelize but you find it easy to encourage other Christians. I find there is a lot of 'guilt trippin' amongst Christians, especially in the area of evangelism..'everyone has to go witnessing'...not necessarily true. Go where God has gifted you.

I agree with crossnote here. Evangelism is a gift of the Holy Spirit and not everyone has it. Grolsch: I can identify with you in that I am often private about my faith in everyday secular life. What I have found though is sometimes God brings someone to me and opens a door. I've actually had some great discussions about Christian faith at work when the time was right. But since I don't have the gift of Evangelism, I don't force the issue. Just trust in God, show your faith by example, and be open to His will when it comes your way.

 

[heymikey80]

I am naturally a very shy person and have few friends. As a Christian who has hit rock bottom, but is now finally on the way up due to God's grace I feel that I am finally discovering the faith that I have been seeking for so long.

Good, it's always good to find Christ's brothers being fed well.

My conundrum is telling other people. This may seem trivial, but the thought of telling others scares the wits out of me. Lets be honest here, in the general secular population which we all must spend a good proportion of our day through the workplace etc Christians tend to be sneered and laughed at. I feel that my struggle to 'fit in' will be made even more difficult with my revelation of being a born again Christian.

Maybe. Let's start with the fact that people will sneer, but I've got two points.

As to human opinion: people sneered at the eyewitnesses to Christ's resurrection. You're in good company. People sneer at facts. Humans like to think we're enlightened, but we're not. We're darkened. So when the light comes on, we're going to try everything to escape it.

But second, what message are you conveying? People who don't want it to go on will not often press you to the point of preaching. Simply state that you think this guy did die and get up out of the grave 2000 years ago, and you live in light of that. Let 'em sneer away at that. If they challenge what you think about them, you don't need to answer that if you don't want to. I normally have a few pat responses to that, you'll need a few that fit your style. Mine are --

"You don't think you're perfect, do you? So the jury's out on you."
"Why would my opinion of you matter to whether someone resurrected 2000 years ago?" (Let them answer the question for themselves.)
"Nobody died and left me in charge. In fact the one who died is back -- so why is my opinion important?"

As you can see, I like bluntly turning such sneering back toward people so maybe afterward, they'll think about it. But you can pick your method. The idea is to get across just one simple fact: you're on the belief side of this struggle. Nothing more has to be said. But if you feel like I do about my past failures to answer, nothing less will do when you're asked.

 

[Johnnz]

Firslty, be a real person, not some way out religious person.

State you views clearly but not dogmatically - "I believe that .". rather "than that's wrong"

Show genuine interest in them as people, not just as candidates for a proclamation of the Christian message

It takes time and effort to learn and develop the skills and knowledge that enables us to reply well to the many issues that are thrown at us. learn from any mistakes and persevere. With thought you can get much better with practice.

John
NZ

 

[Peripatetic]

Firslty, be a real person, not some way out religious person.

State you views clearly but not dogmatically - "I believe that .". rather "than that's wrong"

Very good advice. It often makes the difference between reaching someone (and maybe breaking some stereotypes) and causing someone to turn away immediately.