Sharing Your Faith

Sharing Your FaithShaun King "How much does a so-called Christian have to hate you if they really believe in Jesus, Heaven, and Hell and never tell you about it?" While those words may sound like they came from your local evangelist or pastor, they didn't. Not even close. Instead, they came from the mouth of one of the most famous non-believing atheists in the world, Penn Jillette, widely known as the bigger half of the performance group Penn & Teller.When I heard Penn make this statement it was like a kick in the gut. Let me tell you why. Penn made this statement after finishing a show. A very warm, sincere man waited patiently to meet with Penn and gave Penn a small Bible and told him very kindly how much he believed and valued the words inside of that book. Now, before you get too happy I want to tell you ahead of time that Penn still says he could care less about the Bible, but he was moved by earnest honesty and beliefs of a simple man that wanted to share his faith in God with someone that he admired. Not cliché, not judgmental, not snobbish, the man very plainly and simply shared his faith and it broke through Penn's very cynical exterior walls.When reflecting back on this encounter later that evening, Penn said that he wasn't even slightly irritated when the man shared his faith. Indeed, he said what troubled and irritated him even more than someone sharing a deeply held faith in God, was a man or woman that claimed to have a deep faith about a risen Savior, or an everlasting afterlife of Heaven or Hell, but thought so little about people that they never told them about it!Ouch! Strong words? Yes.But Penn is right.Either we don't really believe in an awesome Savior that chose the nails and the cross for us or we must hate people so much that we know this Savior for ourselves, but don't want anyone else to know Him.Who are you telling about Jesus? Better yet - who are you not telling about Him that really needs to hear His story and yours? Are you sure you believe in Jesus and in Heaven? If so, why not tell everyone you know about this amazing news we call the Gospel?One thing that I have learned over the past few weeks with the deaths of Michael Jackson, Steve McNair, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, and others is that tomorrow just isn't promised and that we should never assume that we have another hour or another day or another random time to tell someone about our faith journey. Maybe they'll reject the Gospel and reject you and move on, but maybe, just maybe they won't. Maybe God will use you as a springboard into the heart of that person or that family that you need to talk with. Just understand this - our faith is not a private faith. It's not a secret, keep-it-to-yourself type of faith.It's a tell-the-whole-world-because-you-contain-yourself type of faith and people need to hear from you.Today, I dare you to start sharing your faith today and see what happens!