Sharing the Good News

Reading Francis of Assisi and Watchman Nee I came to a huge realization about my faith and how I came to Christ, which I won’t get into, but let’s just say it was a huge encouragement and it helped me understand some things that are important. 

Honestly I’m not really sure the last time I actually “shared the Good News” as in like the Roman Road or anything, but this past week I've had a lot of opportunities to talk to my brother (an agnostic who recently became curious about religion and now isn't sure what he believes) about the true love of God and some about what being a Christian really means. 

I know I need to become better at evangelism but I hesitate with it because I would much rather show my faith with actions, not words. Yes actions are important, but I know there are times when you need to straight up talk about it. 

Steps to take in order to be more faithful in this area would be number one: ask God for help. Ask him for conviction of when to open my mouth. Ask for distinction of when to speak and when to listen. Ask for help to know when to stop doing, and when to start a conversation. Then number two: be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit and wait for a command; listen and pay attention to him. Also if he is calling me to do something, to be faithful and disciplined and do what it is he tells me to do. I can ask for God’s help all I want, but if I’m stubborn and selfish and not willing to actually do the work I would not be obeying my Father and his commands.

Jeremy Taylor-Question 2 (Praise and Attention)

Jeremy Taylor’s list of rules to exercise humility is intense. Reading this whole thing opened my eyes to many things and convicted me hard core. Many of the rules were hard for me because I can be prideful in areas of my life, but many of the rules are also easy for me because I tend to think lowly of myself.

If I had to choose the rule that is easiest for me to follow I’d choose rule number eleven, “When you are slighted by someone, or feel undervalued, do not harbor any secret anger, supposing that you actually deserved praise and that they overlooked your value, or that they neglected to praise you because of their own envy.” This is probably easiest for me to follow because most of the time I don’t like it when people praise me for things. I don’t like it when people give me attention or honor. I like playing in the background unnoticed.

On the other hand, the rules, hands down, hardest for me to follow would be the two similar ones, numbers six and ten. Six reads, “Never say anything, directly or indirectly, that will provoke praise or elicit compliments from others… do not let praise for yourself be the design of your conversations.” Ten reads, “Some will speak lowly of themselves in order to make others give an account of their goodness.” Although I like playing the background and I hate attention or praise, every now and then when I start feeling worthless or unimportant, instead of listening to what God says about me, I start fishing for compliments, especially from people I look up to. I absolutely love it when people that are important to me give me compliments. I became aware of this in high school and I've been working on it since. I've gotten better at not doing it, but it still happens sometimes.

Jeremy Taylor- Question 1 (Ashamed and Encouraged)

I have had many opportunities to be ashamed of my birth and of my economic position growing up, but for some reason I always seemed to look at the positive side of things. I grew up in non-Christian and poor family with an alcoholic father and a rebelling brother. My brother, mom, and dad were always negative and pessimistic so I felt as if I needed to be the positive, peppy, cheerful person in the house to bring the mood up.  There would be times were I would be alone and I’d become upset, or days when I let it get to me and I would complain or be ashamed, but for the most part I was pretty ok with it all.

                Taylor also writes about not being ashamed of your parents, now that is one thing I still have trouble with. I love my dad, I really do, but I am tremendously ashamed of his alcoholism. I don’t mind talking about it or sharing it with people, but I would never ever want anyone to meet or see my dad while he has been drinking. I honestly am not sure how to overcome being ashamed of it either.

                I am encouraged by my background in the fact that I learned a lot because of it. I had to grow up quicker than most kids, I learned how to take care of myself, I learned how to be the mediator and peacemaker in situations, I learned how dangerous alcohol and pride is, etc. I witnessed a lot of bad examples of things too, like I learned how not to treat your spouse and how not to treat your children. Because of my home life I also learned what true love is and that God is enough. When you feel completely alone and have nothing left and you see even a glimpse of hope or someone caring for you, you reach for that with everything you have. I’m lucky that God stuck his hand out to me when he did and pulled me close to him. It is encouraging to see how far I have come from when I first fell in love with my Heavenly Daddy, to how much more I'm in love with him now.