Confessions of a Germaphobe...

Today was a tragic day. There I was sitting in the library trying to eat my croissant. I had just touched the keyboards and decided hand sanitizer was a must. It’s one of those things you always have to have. If I could I would carry around a can of Lysol just to spray it on all the sick people. Anyway, there I was sitting with germy keyboard hands, without my much needed tool. I couldn’t eat my croissant. I couldn’t enjoy it or share it because I was ill-equipped.

And then it hit me, we do the same thing in our evangelism. We don’t study the scriptures, we don’t pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We don’t walk a straight and narrow path some times. We are called to be the salt of the earth. Salt preserves and so must we preserve. Preserve what? Morals, integrity, Compassion, Mercy, the list goes on. Intimacy with God is a caught thing, not a taught thing. If I want to teach someone to be more intimate with Christ, or to even have a relationship with Him altogether sticking someone in a classroom and filling their head will tons of knowledge about God is not going to do them any good. We have to model it. They see us being more intimate and so they long for it too.

And then there’s another issue. Sometimes we don’t want to share our croissant. Sometimes we don’t want to share our faith. We feel ashamed because we know we haven’t been the best examples. We fear rejection. We come up with a million excuses to justify it. I know I fear it. I know the truth, but so many times choose to omit that part out. But that’s the part that my lost friends need to hear the most. Fear of sharing the gospel is just as impairing as being a hypocrite. According to James 4:17 this is the Sin of Omission. I guess you could say in this situation the only positive thing is that God will get His glory, with or without your help.

God has us here to enjoy a bountiful life. They deserve it too. This croissant is too good not to share! But we have to have the right tools. When we follow the world we are impaired. We go in without hand sanitizer and change forever how they see our witness. This is the sin of commission aka hypocrisy. We are called to be the light. The rest of the world is in darkness. There is no in between. Why do we try to make one? Revelation 3:15-16 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

The world has a lot of fears. They are starving and thirsty for purpose in utter depravity. Because think about it. Without the hope in Christ, this is a pretty scary place. Violence, murder, rape, deceit- not necessarily your perfect picnic in the park. It’s like a stinky, moldy sandwich. But when the world looks up at us in fear how are we going to help them if we’re impaired by our own fears? We must show them one who can satisfy all of those. Point to Christ. He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35).

You can’t be a germaphobe forever. Some days you’re just going to have to dive right in without the hand sanitizer. But don’t be afraid to share your croissant to a starving world. It’s the best thing that ever happened to you, so share it!