Witnessing: He is "Strong Enough to Save"

*I have discovered that most of my blog titles involve titles of Christian music songs, so I think I've found a gimmick. "Strong Enough to Save" is a beautiful song by Tenth Avenue North, whom I have just recently discovered.* So I was reading my Sunday school book last night, following up on the lesson from last Sunday, which was about evangelism. I came across the question: "why do we take it so personally when someone does not accept Christ after we've discussed Him with them? [We don't get upset when someone doesn't agree with our opinion of a movie, book, music, sports team, etc.]" This made me pause, but only for a moment, because the answer to me is quite simple: Jesus is very personal to me. He is who I am, who I want to be; my past, present, and future. Movies, music, sports, none of these things reflect who I am the way that Jesus does. In some ways, not accepting Christ is like not accepting who I am. I don't mean to make this all about me, but that is why I think we get so upset when someone doesn't accept Jesus after we talk about Him. He is very personal. Oftentimes sharing Him means sharing a part of ourselves and our own story (testimony). Testimonies are very personal, and not easily shared. Could I just go up to people and share mine? Maybe, but possibly an edited version, depending on to whom I was speaking, which I do realize might make my testimony less powerful. There are some things about me that I just don't want getting back to others. I am embarrassed by some things I did. I wasn't addicted to anything, I didn't do anything incredibly stupid, I didn't live a horrible life, but I made mistakes. Is it easy to just go up to anybody and share my testimony? No. Will I? If the situation calls for it. Will it be easy? No. So if I go through the emotional wringer of sharing my testimony, will I be upset if the person with whom I shared it with doesn't jump up immediately and ask for God's forgiveness of his/her own sins? You bet. So in my opinion, this is why we are afraid of evangelism, of sharing God with others. He is very personal to us. He affects our very lives, which anyone will tell you is personal. We don't go sharing our lives with just anyone. We don't go around to every stranger and tell them our life stories. Some people might be told when and where we were born. Some people might know who our parents are; they might even know some stories of us as children. They might know us as adults: who we're married to, how many kids we have, what we do for a living. But think about other things: what about your social security number? How many people know this? How many people know your deepest, darkest secrets or our deepest wishes and desires? How many people know the details of your relationship with your spouse? Not so many, right? My relationship with God feels just as personal to me as my relationship with Corey does. This is why I would get offended if someone I shared God with rejected Him. I wouldn't want anyone to reject Corey or my relationship with him. I do not want anyone to reject God or my relationship with Him. It's that simple. We, as Christians, are considered the bridegroom of Christ. Therefore, our relationship with Him is just as personal as the relationships we have with our spouses. The only difference is: we are encouraged to share Him with others, and even though our relationships with Him are personal, sometimes sharing Him means sharing our own testimonies. The great news is: we are NOT the only path to God, so you don't have to feel like a failure if they reject you. God will find a way. Then it will be up to that person to accept Him and have everlasting life. I strongly encourage you to check out these videos from YouTube. They say it much better than I ever could! (I tried to link them on here, but it isn't working, so I'm just going to type the web addresses here: "Strong Enough to Save Video Journal" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNpw-kCUEtk&feature=relmfu and "Strong Enough to Save" (song with lyrics) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIRk5bebycI. May God bless and keep you always!