Sharing The Love Of God This Christmas Season

You would think sharing the love of God with others and telling how God sent his only Son into the world as a baby would be an easy thing to do, yet many believers never share Christ, even during the Christmas Season. I want to look at just a few of the reasons why so many Christians struggle with expressing their love for God even when the Holy Spirit sets the stage for communicating our own salvation experience.

When you think about Christmas songs with lyrics like “Go Tell It On The Mountain That Jesus Christ is Born” or the powerful song, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen“– listen to the lyrics:

“God rest ye merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay –Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray. Oh tidings of comfort and joy . . . Comfort and joy. Oh tidings of comfort and joy.”  

It seems the Holy Spirit of God is pitching us a softball, to coin a phrase, of incredible opportunity to articulate the love of God to a lost and dying world. It has become second nature for singers in the secular world entertainment system to sing these Christmas tunes without even realizing they are preaching the gospel.  People like Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion and Mariah Carry all get on the band wagon to create and sing about Christ being born and coming to earth to save mankind, yet followers of Jesus seem to struggle sharing their faith – Why?

So, why does it appear believing Christians can’t seem to voice their love of God publicly during such a ripe season? I think the question is more complicated than a simple few answers, but let me identify two major reasons.

First, if believers are not convinced it is their privilege and obligation to witness for Christ during the rest of the year more than likely they will find it disingenuous to do so during the Christmas season even with all the help from the secular world with the songs and special shows.

When I got saved, during the Jesus movement in California, during the 60s and 70s, I was taught that Christ expected me to share my faith because he died for me to save my soul. I was taught that Jesus commanded all true believers to “Go Into All The World And Preach the Gospel” (Matthew 28:19) 

Two days after I gave my life to Christ my leaders took me to a wharf in my city at 10pm and told me to share my story with strangers. I was terrified and said “What Story” and they asked me if Christ saved me and I responded, “yes.” They continued to ask if I now understood and had experienced that God loved me and again I said yes. They then told me, “Tell Your Story Of God’s Amazing Love” the best way you can. That night I started to have conversations with strangers about how God had changed my life since Jesus saved me. I’m sure I wasn’t polished but I was sincere and that solidified my faith to witness wherever I went. That was over 45 years ago and every time I get to share my testimony I start to tear up because that decision to yield my life and follow Jesus is real, and continues to move my soul. I am amazed today to discover professing “Christians” who have never shared their testimony to anyone ever!

Secondly, sharing my testimony of coming to Christ was important to me because I loved God deeply. I think it’s important as to whether a person has had what I call “A Radical Conversion”or just an emotional experience with Jesus. If a person came to Jesus to be forgiven of their sin and yet they never yielded their soul to obey God, to follow him as the Lord of their lives, they merely embraced a symbol of Jesus and his story and not the person. Look at the following story in scripture and see the correlation between wanting Jesus as a savior but not as the Lord of their life.

Mark 10:17-20

As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked,…“Good Teacher, What should I do to get eternal life?” …“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. But as for your question, you know the commandments: ‘Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Do not cheat. Honor your father and mother.’  “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was a child.”

Here is a young man who wants eternal life yet he doesn’t understand there is a cost he is not ready to embrace to have it. He believes Jesus has the authority to give it to him. So he asks a simple question (not so simple really) that could change his life forever – “What Do I Have To Do?”  Look what Jesus says to him.

Mark 10:21-25

Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him.“You lack only one thing,” he told him.  “Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.” At this, the man’s face fell, and he went sadly away because he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for rich people to get into the Kingdom of God!” This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to get into the Kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

Jesus is talking about more than money here. Jesus always wanted to help people see what their stumbling block was in life and sometimes it was money and sometimes it was pride. Jesus wanted to help this young man, but the greed of his heart for money was greater than his desire to get right with God.  Whatever we value most in our life is what we live for. It is, in a sense, our god! Although Jesus wanted to see this young man free and indeed find eternal life the true god of his life left no real room for Jesus.

When we truly get converted to Christ and become a real Christian we agree to not only to receive forgiveness, but promise to obey Jesus as Lord. In fact, Jesus said if we love him, we will obey him and that included sharing our faith with lost people.

Consider this one truth – Do you love Jesus enough to share him with the world around you? Your answer reveals a lot of whether your love is skin deep or from your heart.

Questions:

1. Do you find it hard to share your faith?  If so, why?
2. Are you willing to share your testimony even if you stumble like I did when I started?

May God give us the opportunities to magnify Jesus this Christmas season.

Pastor Dale