Continuing with this examination as to why we shy away from sharing our faith, this morning I'd like to think about embarrassment. I am sure we've all encountered this before. We're in a conversation, we get the opportunity to share about Christ, and yet we fear embarrassment and so don't share or don't share fully.
Here's a couple of reasons why that might happen...
First, we may not know all the answers to the questions the other people may ask. They could break out theodicy ("If God is good, why does He allow or cause bad things to happen?"). They could pound us on the arrogance of Jesus' claim of exclusivity ("How can you say that Jesus is the only way?"). They could bring up any number of touchy political or social issues on which evangelical Christians have taken sides: homosexuality, abortion, immigration, health care, etc. Related, there's the personal trump card ("I know this guy who's gay but he is the nicest guy and goes to church and everything. Does God hate him?").
Second, you genuinely like the person and don't want to cause friction between the two of you. You might hem and haw, hinting at the Gospel. You might offer some good questions and give them "something to think about." That's not always bad. But hiding behind your personal affection for the person isn't very affectionate at all if you won't tell them the truth.
So what do you and I do with embarrassment? Confess it. Repent of it. Remember and preach to ourselves that the fear of man is a snare (Proverbs 29.25). And above all, remind ourselves that just because they Gospel isn't popular doesn't mean it's not true.
But that's just me thinking thoughts...
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