When was the last time you shared Jesus with someone? I know that can be a loaded question, but it’s one we need to keep on our minds every day. There are many excuses we tell ourselves as to why we don’t share the Gospel – fear, lack of opportunities and feeling unequipped to do so – but in Matthew 28, Jesus commanded all of us to go and share the Gospel throughout the world.
If you struggle with fear or tend to be more on the shy side, you’re definitely not alone. As Jase Robertson shares in his White Chair Film, he spent a majority of his adolescent life being quiet and soft-spoken. He processed the trauma of his childhood – living with an angry and scary father – by determining to be better than his family. He did what was right not out of a desire to please God, but from a place of anger and judgment. When he began walking with Jesus as a teenager, he continued to do what was right, but he slowly began to realize that his motivation needed to change.
“I thought being a disciple of Jesus was just not doing wrong. Well that’s what I was doing beforehand,” said Jase.
Jase prayed, asking God to use him. Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? It can be a scary prayer because when you tell God that you want to be used and you’re on board with his plans for your life, it almost never looks like the life you would have planned. But it is always worth it. Jase began to realize that God’s answer to his prayer was for him to do the scariest thing he could think of: talk.
“What really led me to humility is when I realized I needed to start getting uncomfortable for Jesus. I need to start bringing him up,” said Jase.
It can be scary to be vulnerable, especially when you don’t know how it will be received. But God in his kindness and mercy always sets the opportunity up for us, and that’s exactly what he did for Jase.
One night Jase answered a prank phone call where the caller never said anything. He quickly realized it was the perfect opportunity for him to tell someone about Jesus. Two calls and six hours later, Jase had a clearer understanding of God’s plan for his life.
“It convicted me. I’m not going to be this way anymore. My fears left, my judgmental spirit left and I thought, ‘I’m going to start doing this for the Lord. I’m going to let him use me,’” said Jase.
When was the last time you felt like God used you? We’ve talked a lot before about how we don’t go through things just to go through them. God always has a purpose for our pain, and I think that’s how he often uses us to reveal himself to others.
For example, when I was in my early twenties, I went through a bad breakup. I couldn’t understand how someone could treat anyone the way I was being treated, and God used it to teach me a lot about his love for me. I was never able to make sense of it, but I trusted God and kept moving forward. Not long after that experience, I found myself sharing a cubicle with a woman around my age at work who was going through a particularly painful breakup. The difference? She didn’t know God. He gave me the perfect opportunity to share my experience and how God got me through it. I had to speak up; I couldn’t stay silent. After some time, we prayed the prayer of salvation together, she accepted Christ and suddenly all of the pain and confusion I went through was worth it.
That’s when I realized the importance of being ready to share Jesus at any moment. When we are obedient to speak up for Jesus, he will take it and multiply our meager efforts. It doesn’t matter what’s holding us back – fear, opportunity or feeling unequipped – God will use those for his purposes.
“What’s fascinating about this whole story is God took my biggest weakness – the thing I was most fearful of, which was basically being outward-spoken to anybody – and he turned it into his strength,” said Jase.
So, are you ready to speak up?
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