“…I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Rom 1:15-16).
We often forfeit opportunities to share the gospel with others because we are afraid of what they might think. The world’s need for salvation is much too urgent to allow these personal concerns to interfere. We need to stop letting Satan hold us back and start sowing the seed every opportunity we get. We should have the attitude of Paul and boldly proclaim the gospel of Christ. Jesus tells us plainly, “whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Would Christ be ashamed of how many opportunities we have neglected because we felt awkward bringing up God in everyday conversation?
Sometimes we deceive ourselves into thinking that we don’t have many good opportunities. We just sit around waiting for someone to bring up spiritual things before we are willing to talk with them about Christ. Only when we are sure they are interested in God’s word will we share the gospel with them. Is that the type of evangelism that God expects from us? Is this what sowing the seed looks like? In the parable of the sower, the seed was sown on all types of soil—wayside, rocky, thorny, and good (Matt 13:3-9). We need to look at every individual as an opportunity to share God’s word. It is not our job to judge the heart. We just sow the seed and leave God to be the judge.
We should even share the gospel with those we view most unlikely to respond. Many accepted the gospel in Corinth who had formerly been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners (1 Cor 6:9-11). What if Paul had just assumed these people wouldn’t listen and passed them by? Paul trusted in the power of the gospel to change the heart of even the vilest sinner.
Do we worry about how these people might react? Are we afraid of rejection? We need to remember what God told Samuel when the people of Israel requested a king—“…they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me…” (1 Sam 8:7). Many times we are too focused on ourselves and we forget what evangelism is all about. It’s not about us; it’s about God! We should be more concerned that someone might reject God and lose their soul than the possibility of personal rejection. When we are so worried about how people will view us that we fail to sow the seed, we have become ashamed of the gospel of Christ. We need to put the focus where Paul put it—on the power of God to salvation!