Isaiah 35:3,4—Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you.”
Recently, a barber cutting my hair shared that unless he knew a customer was a Christian, he was afraid to share about Jesus. He said if he shared the gospel, he might lose his business because people would stop coming to him. He decided that when he retired he would boldly share his faith. I went away troubled by his comments.
In truth, he might be right. Perhaps he would lose his business. But is that really the issue? Jesus emphatically promises in Matthew 6 that His Father is quite capable of taking care of us. We are not to worry. The real issue is do we trust God. To be fainthearted or fearful, is an indicator that we do not have the confidence to rely upon Him. We would rather trust our own plans, knowledge and abilities. Therefore, we acknowledge Christ privately yet refrain from publicly offending anyone with His name. Is there any wonder why our land is increasingly becoming godless? If we saw a person’s house was on fire, we would not hesitate to warn them. Yet people’s very souls are headed to hell and we remain mute because they might get angry with us for caring enough to share fire-quenching, life-blessing Living Water. God help us.
Paul challenged Timothy, the young man he was discipling, “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). It is not an accident that Paul references the power of God. Whenever we willfully obey Him and share the gospel, we entrust ourselves to His power. It is not our job to convince people that Jesus is the Savior. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. But we all our commanded by Jesus to share our faith! When prompted by the Lord to testify, we need to be brave and share our hearts, not quiver behind a wall of excuses.
Yes, we might lose our job. So what! God will provide for us. We might be persecuted and ridiculed. Excellent! God will reward us in heaven because we stood confident in Christ. We might die for what we believe. Well, if we are not willing to be slain for the very Lord Who brutally suffered and died for us, what good is our faith? I’ll pray for courage for you! Will you do the same for me?
Inspiration
It is instructive to note that in the Bible faintheartedness arises whenever self-interest begins to get luxurious. The sign of faintheartedness in individuals is in the languid talk of “someone else” when there is anything to be done.—Oswald Chambers in Not Knowing Where
My business is to preach the gospel. I repair shoes to pay the expenses—William Carey
