I like to people-watch. Whether I’m in small town Iowa or in a bigger metropolitan city, it is always entertaining to see people speed walking to get to a meeting or a group of friends chatting and laughing together in front of a coffee shop.
Sometimes as I watch, I wonder what their stories are. Why is that girl hanging her head and shuffling her feet? What does the tattoo on that guy’s arm represent? What have these people gone through in life? I also wonder if they are fighting any spiritual battles. Are they struggling with any darkness?
Have they ever heard of and experienced the gospel of Jesus? Spreading the gospel is one of the most important things Jesus tasked His disciples with doing, and carrying that out became the beating heart of the apostles’ ministry in the book of Acts.
Our world is full of lost people, and the simple truth is that they need to hear the gospel and see it in action. Romans 10:14 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
I think a common misconception Christians have today is that sharing the gospel is mostly up to missionaries or pastors. As long as we support them, we can sit back and let them do all of the work. This should never be our attitude – it is also our task to spread the Word!
When you become obsessed with a new movie, do you keep it all to yourself? Of course not! You want other people to see it too; you want them to experience the same excitement it brought to you. The same goes for sharing the gospel. The fact that we can live in freedom because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the greatest news I have ever heard.
I don’t want to keep that to myself. I want others to have a relationship with Jesus and walk with Him for the rest of their lives, to live in His presence every day and to experience His goodness and mercy.
I understand that here at Northwestern, we’re in a little Christian bubble. We don’t have very many daily interactions with nonbelievers. However, you don’t need to look far beyond campus to find them. What about your friends back home, your co-workers, maybe even your classmates? Sharing Christ with them doesn’t mean you stuff your beliefs down their throats.
Who you are as a person should already reflect Jesus’ impact on your life, so just showing others the fruit of the Spirit speaks loudly. I encourage you to find those people in your life and invest in them, and when the time is ripe, you can share the gospel with them.
You don’t need to be a theologian or a pastor to do that. You just need to be a person who has a relationship with Jesus and an understanding of the gospel. My prayer for all of us is that when Jesus asks us to go, that our response may always be, “Here I am. Send me!”
