Sharing our faith with our non-Christians is an indispensable part of our relationship with Jesus but for most of us, we would we quick to admit we are not doing enough of it. We find ourselves caught in an internal tug-of-war. Often the immediate solution that comes to mind revolves around learning a new method, increasing our knowledge, relying on set ‘talking points’ or armed with an already prepared apologetic.
However, Pippert in her book, ‘Out of the Saltshaker’, asserts the real remedy is a deeper dependence on Christ’s abiding presence with us. When Jesus ascended to heaven, he didn’t leave his disciples! In Acts 1, Jesus commanded his disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit. In verse 8, Jesus gives the reason: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (read also John 15:1-8). He was in them and in us through the Holy Spirit!
When we begin to realise that Jesus is genuinely present with us wherever we are, then our witness stops being a performance we need to get right. It stops being something that feels forced and relieves the pressure many of us carry to make things happen. Instead, it becomes something we simply notice and join in what God is already doing. Thus, ‘Practising the presence of Christ’ is more than a devotional nicety. When we begin to cultivate an increasing awareness of Christ’s nearness throughout the ordinary hours of the day, we will find that natural, unstrained conversations about Jesus will follow because there is something genuine overflowing rather than something manufactured for the occasion.
Because ‘Christ is with us’, our day-to-day relationships become the place where He is met. We don’t need an opening line so much as an awareness that we already carry Him into every room As Pippert explains,
“When, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we let Jesus reach the people among whom we live, he will create a family atmosphere. Jesus gives people worth. And his love is contagious; people will imitate it. They will be drawn to us at first without knowing why. What we must not forget is that we incarnate Jesus! Whatever our life intersects with, so does Jesus. Whomever, we touch, Jesus touches. We do not simply give the gospel – we are the gospel”
When we ‘practise the presence of Christ’, we begin “seeing people as Jesus does, loving them as they are, loving them as we are, and being salt and light in the world” (Pippert)
Learning to fish for people!
Mark Ng
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