Not Experienced Enough // Movement of the Gospel

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

I’ve always had good intentions about sharing the Gospel—after all, I’ve been a Christian my entire life and it is simply a task that comes with the territory. However, unlike Kendall’s Grace Encounter shared this week, I haven’t really owned my identity in Christ. It’s something that I put on the back-burner and continually think someday I will be qualified to share the love of Jesus with someone, but not today. Today I’m a mess and can’t possibly imagine adding one more thing to my to-do list, to my agenda for the week. Nope, it’s just going to have to wait.

I continue to see myself as too broken, too busy, too hypocritical to share the Gospel and love of God. If I can’t even manage to regularly connect with a Bible study, have my own daily devotions, or be a godly wife and mom, then who am I to tell somebody else about Jesus? It’s easy to shrug off God’s calling on our lives when we feel that we don’t have the experience necessary to be a credible witness. However, as we learned from Paul and Timothy this week, God can use us despite our perceived inexperience.

Paul, who was previously called Saul, had been involved in the persecution of Christians. Acts 8:3 says, “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.” But Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus, and Saul was changed; after spending time with the disciples, he began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God (Acts 9). Saul did not have any experience preaching the Gospel—in fact, his experience was persecuting those who followed after Jesus. In spite of this, God used Paul to become one of the most well known missionaries in history, and led him to disciple Timothy—another man who lacked experience in sharing the Good News.

While Paul was in Lystra, he asked the disciple Timothy to join his journey (Acts 16). After ten years of discipleship together, Timothy was left to lead the church in Ephesus, and Paul wrote to him, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Timothy4:12). Although Timothy was considered to be young in age and in wisdom, Paul still urged him to set an example—to disciple others—just as Paul had done for him. Timothy did not have the experience to lead the churches in Ephesus, but he did not let that stop him from answering God’s call.

Both Paul and Timothy were not experienced enough to disciple other Christians, but God still called them to spread the Good News. In the same way, we are called to connect with others and participate in the movement of the Gospel from person to person. This act of obedience to God and leading others in discipleship is not just for those who have years of ministry experience. Even new Christians, changed by the Holy Spirit, are credible witnesses to the amazing testimony of Jesus Christ.

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons user John Loo

So when you feel unqualified to share your faith or walk in obedience to God’s call, remember that lack of experience or credibility is not an excuse. God will use you, but only if you let Him. Instead of feeling too broken, too busy, or too hypocritical to share my faith, I can hear God calling me to trust in His will and allowing His power to be made perfect through my weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9). Are you unwilling to share your faith because you feel inexperienced? Are you ignoring God’s call in your life out of fear that your credibility will be questioned? Let the power of the Holy Spirit be made perfect in your weakness, your inexperience, and your fear this week. Don’t put off your response to God’s call any longer—the Gospel needs to continue to move through personal connection and discipleship. Don’t let the Good News stop with you!

[Megan Stephenson is a proud new mom to her two-month-old son August and spends her days trying to figure out how to take care of her tiny human. She also works for a private education group in Grand Rapids as an Assistant Registrar. Megan loves spending time with her husband, Ben, trying out new breweries, restaurants, and local attractions. She also self-identifies as a crazy cat lady, despite owning no cats of her own, thanks to her loving and allergic husband.]