Sharing Our Faith

Kenna and I are here at the office this morning in the quiet. She has a doctor's appointment to get the plethora of skin tags off her eyelid at 1pm. She is excited about having them gone. Apparently every day at camp multiple people would tell her that she had something on her eyelid. Apparently every day at camp last week, someone and usually multiple someones told her that she had something on her eyelid. The first couple of days she told people the whole story of her having skin tags and having them removed twice from her eyelid already. Later in the week, she would just tell the person to ask someone who already knew the story because she was tired of telling it over and over. By Friday, she would just say "OK" to the person and go on. She got sick of explaining what was going on.

Are we ever like that as Christians? Sometimes when we first become a Christian or after we have been on Chrysalis or the Walk to Emmaus, we are like Kenna was at the beginning of the week…we tell our whole story about Christ and our relationship with him. When the newness starts to wear off, we start to shorten the story or tell it with less excitement. Later we tell other people with questions about Christianity, to go ask someone else. And finally, we choose to ignore those opportunities to share our faith story when it is inconvenient or if we feel uncomfortable.

How can we keep the excitement of being a new Christian when we have been one for a while or even a long time? I think it would help if we hung out with new Christians or people just coming to faith more often. I know that it is hard to NOT catch the excitement that Kenna and Hanna have over doing something simple like making brownies. So, it seems staying around new Christians would do the same thing. I think we should also invest in our faith like a new Christian. They seem to always be reading their Bibles or reading a book on Christianity. So, perhaps we could pick up one of those type books at the library next time we are there. (I have a whole bunch…Donald Miller…Andy Stanley…Marva Dawn….Dan Kimball…) We could also spend time reading our Bibles more diligently. Zondervan, the publisher of the New International Version of the Bible has several reading plans for the Bible. Here is the website for them, if you are interested:

http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/Bible/Plans.htm?QueryStringSite=Zondervan

New Christians seem to be the most dedicated about attending church. Could we all make a new commitment to be present more often? Jesus said that where two or more are gathered, he would be with us. So, I feel confident about being present at church and that I will be blessed in the gathering. We all are sick on occasion, of course. However, it is important to be with our fellow believers, even if it is at the church at the beach. (I get great ideas when I visit other congregations! So, bring some back from your vacation church visits!)

I pray that we all catch the fire that burns in the hearts of new believers and share that fire with everyone we meet!