I came back from Turkey deeply convicted.
The issue? Evangelism. Compassion. Boldness.
I have got to change and become more like Christ.
Love as He loved. Find them and care for them and reach them as He did.
So many good things compete for my time and energy and attention.
But evangelism is the best thing.
So many excuses sound perfectly plausible and reasonable. But Jesus blows them all away.
To be an effective witness, I need to care more about the world’s opinion of Jesus than its opinion of me. Otherwise I will be too busy protecting myself to proclaim Him.
To be an effective witness, I need to care more about others with the compassion of Christ than my own felt-needs with passion for myself. Otherwise I will be too self-absorbed and self-obsessed to be of any good to anyone.
To be an effective witness I simply have to die. Die to self. Die to worldly appetites. And then I have to rise again. Rise again to live in Christ. Rise again to life Heaven’s life.