How to Share Your FaithExemplo

One Reason We Don’t Share Our Faith

Recently, my dad excitedly shared plans for the final stage of the house we’re building in our backyard. He is almost 70 and is playing a significant role in building the house he will retire into. He loves to talk about it.

Another friend texted me a picture of a carload of plants he’d just picked up. He loves gardening, and everyone who knows him knows that.

When you become a dad, you talk about your kids constantly.

If you join a pickleball league, it tends to come up in conversation.

We naturally talk about the things we love and share what our lives are built around.

There are many reasons we don’t share our faith, and today, we’re considering an uncomfortable one:

One reason we don’t share our faith is that we might not love God very much, and our lives might not be built around living with Him in His Kingdom.

Gentlemen, I know that seems like a haymaker, but I can assure you I’m not swinging.

But consider this: if everyone around you knows your favorite hockey team but not much about your walk with Christ, why is that?

Whether the statement is true of you or not, here are two ways forward for sharing your faith:

1. Build your daily, normal life around Christ.

People will know if your morning routine, financial management strategy, extracurricular planning, etc., are based on your faith.

During Lent this year, a few friends decided to eat just one meal a day, six days a week. They were inspired by Jesus’ teaching about fasting and wanted to build their lives around following Him. Their faith grew, and they ended up sharing what they were doing and why with friends and coworkers. Their witness just naturally happened.

2. Explore your doubts.

The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus’ closest followers meeting their resurrected Lord. It says, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted” (Matthew 28:17). This comforts me. The inner circle, who’d seen Jesus’ miracles and seen Him after His resurrection, still had doubts. I’ve wrestled with doubts many times, and the more I work through them, the more my faith grows. That journey has powerfully equipped me to have more and better conversations with those who don't know Christ. Don’t fear or avoid your doubts.

Pause and listen for the Spirit’s whisper about what’s next.

Prayer: Jesus, I have faith, but please increase it. Show me the next steps in building my life around You and upon the Rock. Help me to love You with my whole heart. Open doors for me to share how You’ve changed my life and give me the courage to walk through them like the woman at the well. Amen.

Reflection: Which parts of your schedule have been reworked around your life with God? Do you find this comes up in conversations with people who don’t know Him? For example, when you’re asked what you did last weekend, do you mention going to church? Why or why not?