Making simple things difficult is alarmingly easy to do. Now, if we all loved hard things it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, too often hard things intimidate us. What is sad is when we make something difficult that isn’t really difficult. Talking to people about Jesus is one of those things. When it comes to witnessing, we must stop making it complicated and come back to the simple.

But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:19-20

How can we make witnessing more simple? In order to make sharing our faith simple, we must start by thinking about our faith in a way that is straight forward. This is where the first followers of Jesus inspire me. They inspire me to have a faith based upon what I am discovering about Jesus and not a faith based upon intellectual arguments or parroting another person’s thoughts. What do I see them do? I see the early disciples discovering the truths of Jesus and then sharing them. What did Peter and John say to the leaders of their day? They said that they must speak about what they have seen and heard. That is what they were sharing. They were sharing what Jesus taught them and did for them when they encountered Him. That’s it.

When it comes to the Scriptures, we tend to see it as a completed body of work. However when Peter, Paul, Luke, James, Matthew, John, and others were writing, they were writing as God revealed truth to them. For them, these weren’t complicated doctrines. They were revealed truths. So, they shared what was revealed to them. It was personal, not abstract.

I want to do that. I want to live by what Jesus reveals to me. When I take it a little at a time, I find that I can live it. When I live it, I can share it with others. I am not trying to live by someone else’s truth. I am living by the truth that I know. I am living by the truth I have discovered.

Now, this doesn’t mean I am going to stop thinking big thoughts or reading big thinkers. It does, however, mean that I not just going to repeat the smart sounding thoughts of others. No, I am going to be thinking my own thoughts for when they are my thoughts I can share them because I am living them.

What am I sharing? I am simply sharing my story. I’m not sharing a famous preacher’s story. I’m not sharing a 200 year old theologian’s story. I am sharing my story with Jesus. I am sharing what He has done to save me. I am sharing what He is teaching me today. That’s not complicated.  That’s simple. I can do that. You can too.

Something to think about,

Pastor John

Follow up – What is your story? Share it in the comment section. I would love to hear it!