A Fuller Understanding of Every Good Thing
Posted by Sandy in Christian Living, Gospel Message, training for spiritual growth, tags: 1 Peter, Philemon, RomansI pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.
Philemon 1:6
One of the tremendous benefits of sharing our faith in Christ is that it gives us a fuller understanding of every good thing we have in Christ! That says to me that we cannot fully understand or know every good thing we have in Christ unless we share our faith!
This gives me an additional perspective for sharing the Gospel. I am by no means an evangelist, and I often feel like my attempts at sharing my faith are a bit lacking. Yet I am committed to the importance of the challenge – how will they believe unless someone tells them? (Romans 10:14-15) I have always seen the activity as something I do for God and for the other person. But this passage tells me that I also receive benefit from it.
In thinking about this, I can see how it is much like the benefit one receives from teaching. Any teacher will tell you that they learn more when teaching than their students do. Their learning comes first from their preparation and secondly from the students and the questions they ask and insights they provide.
As I study to prepare myself to share the Gospel, I learn more about all that God has done for us. As I share it, I am blessed simply because I have been obedient. I may be further blessed by the questions and observations of the one I’m witnessing to. And the greatest blessing of all is when the person responds positively to the Gospel. Whether there is a response or not, however, we can know that we have made an impact for the Gospel, just as we know that we are impacting the future beauty of the flowers in our garden when we water them regularly. We don’t always see an immediate response, but there is a response. We don’t always see a response to our words, but we can be assured that something happens in the spiritual world each time we share the Gospel.
What do you need to do to be better prepared to share the Gospel?
- Praying is a start. Pray for specific people you would like to share the Gospel with. Pray that God would bring people across your path who need to know Him. Pray for fertile soil – that these people would be prepared to hear and respond to the Gospel. Pray for wisdom, courage, compassion and the right words to say.
- While you pray, invest a little time in learning methods for sharing the Gospel. You might familiarize yourself with the 4 Spiritual Laws or the Goodness Scale approach to sharing the Gospel.
- Write out your testimony. Yes, write it out. (OK, you can type it out.) Create a version that you can share in just a minute or two as well as a version you can share in 3-5 minutes.
- Be able to articulate the reasons you believe. Peter emphasized this when he was writing “to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the lands of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia.” (1 Peter 1:1). As believers in Christ, we are to live as foreigners in the world. Peter’s advice was this:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1 Peter 3:15
We’re to always be ready to explain why we place our hope and trust in Jesus.
Who might you need to share the Gospel with this week? I know this is a topic that many Christians want to avoid, but Paul’s letter to Philemon tells us that we won’t fully understanding of every good thing we have in Christ unless we are active in sharing our faith. So for the sake of those who need to hear the Gospel, and for your own sake, pray, study, and then SPEAK UP!
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