Articles
Timid Whisperer vs Bold Speaker
How do you handle difficult tasks? If you are like me, no two are the same. Each one comes with a different set of circumstances, and each one requires a different approach.
One thing I continue to learn as I get older is that each one is a little easier than the last. Whether it's standing in front of a crowd, participating in some sort of sports competition, meeting new people or telling someone about Jesus, each time gets easier. We build confidence because we survived the previous and apply what we learned to the next.
It is also possible, and to some degree inevitable, that if we stop doing something we have become proficient in, we can step backward, and lose some of our confidence and abilities.
When I was young, I used to do tower work. I would climb radio towers, and work on the lights, work on the antennas, and even build towers. It took me a while to work up to climbing 400 feet on a tower, then it became no big deal, all in a day's work. Yet today, I'm unsteady on the top of a step ladder. Part of that is that age and experience have taught caution, and part of it is that I haven't climbed 400 feet in 30 years. I won't say I have a fear of heights now, but I have a fear of falling.
If it's been a while since you were bold in showing and telling Jesus to others, it may be a little difficult. Our world has changed somewhat, and we face a bit of a different audience now than we used to. What was once attractive to people is even more clouded by our world's views on things now. But if have ever shared Him with others we can still do it. We must still do it. If we ever have then we know we can, it's just a matter of putting it all into practice again. If we never have, maybe it's time to build up the courage and strength and start doing it. Either way, it should be a way of life for the Christian, and we should overcome our fear of telling others about Jesus's saving grace. Oh, it's not always easy, sometimes it comes with persecution, but other times it is extremely rewarding and life changing for not only the recipient but for us as well.
Our strength will come from God, and over time, spreading the Gospel should be just another day at the office for us. Lord help us to overcome our fear and anxiety, help us to become comfortable and develop our abilities to be bold in telling the Good News to others.
