A Disciple Evangelizes

Pause:

Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down, and focus on Jesus.

Pray and ask Him to open your eyes to see as you read the Scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.

Read:

2 Corinthians 5: 16 - 20: "From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Going Deeper:

By trade, I am a Personal Trainer and have been one for the last seven years.  If there is something many people know me for, it is being an ambassador for better health.  Not only do I coach this on a daily basis for my clients, but I try to live this out daily, as well.  My eating habits, my exercise routine and even my sleeping habits are all reflective of desiring a healthier life. I share about this lifestyle often because I want those around me to desire better health and because I know there is a lot of benefit.  Being a disciple of Jesus is similar, but with SO MUCH MORE at stake and a far greater reward - a fulfilled life and eternity with our King.  As disciples of Jesus, hopefully everything we do - how we live, how we care for others, how we act, and what we share -   is motivated by Jesus because Jesus' changes lives far greater than a dumbbell or nutrition plan can.  I learned this 4 years ago.

Four years ago, blinded by the sin I lived in, I didn't think I needed a Savior and I sure didn't want one.  Then I heard the Gospel for the first time.  That Jesus, by nothing else but His love and grace for my life, died to rescue me back into a relationship with Him.  When I really sat with that, everything in my life changed. 

After salvation, we see the world differently - through new eyes exposed to a world of brokenness that needs to be rescued.  A world of sad hearts who need joy; of lost sinners not knowing the fulfillment that they can have.  My heart filled with compassion, and it is compassion for the broken that the Spirit uses to spread His good and life-saving news. This is where evangelism, proclaiming the Gospel, blossoms - through compassion. Compassion for others hopefully compels us to share the good news of Jesus with those around us.  Because like the scripture above says, thanks to Jesus, we now have the privilege to become ambassadors for Him.  

Don't get me wrong, sharing the Gospel is nerve-wracking, but so is watching your friend choose sin or seeing your siblings walk closer toward death with the choices they make.  It's that stark comparison, but very real realization, that can move us to open our mouths and speak the Gospel into the lives of the people we love, because we know from our own experience of hearing the Gospel how much our lives' have been changed.  When we lean on these things and His promises, the Spirit invites us in to a chance to share who He is.  We just need to obey.   Even so, when we get the opportunity to evangelise, He doesn't leave us to fend for ourselves.  That's how wide his love is for us.  The Word gives us the words and continues to give us the words (and courage) to share.  It is by His Spirit in us and leaning on Him that we can lead others to know Him.  By opening our mouths, we get to partner with Jesus and be His witnesses (Acts 1:8).  By proclaiming the Gospel, we are saying we want nothing more than to have those we love experience a life of hope (1 Peter 3:15).  And when it gets tough to share, may we remember the richness of a life with Christ we have so that we can be compelled to share His good news with those we love in hopes that they, too, can know there is far more than what this world has to offer.

Pray:

Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.

Listen:

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning? 

Apply:

What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?