Mar 21 - DAY 37 - Sharing Your Life Message

Day 37

Sharing Your Life Message

Be ready at all times

to answer anyone who asks you

to explain the hope you have in you,

but do it with gentleness and respect.

1 Peter 3:15-16 TEV

“One more for Jesus.”

That was the final cry of Rick Warren’s dying father. His passion – even at the end of his own life – was “one more.”

Think about it … in death, this old pastor was going to a place where only one thing on earth mattered – Did you know Jesus … or not?

The name of the book we’ve been reading – subtitled on the first edition, almost the title on the second edition – is “What on Earth am I Here For?” And indeed, the only thing on earth that really matters is, “Do you know Jesus?”

Then … once you’ve checked that box, only one other thing really matters, “Are you making him known.”

That’s actually the official mission of many churches: “To Know Christ and Make Him Known.” (In fact, that’s not a bad personal mission statement either: “What on Earth am I Here for? To Know Christ and to Make Him Known.”)

Now, if you’re following along with Rick Warren, so far I’ve been covering yesterday’s chapter, haven’t we? Today’s focus then is the beginning of “How?”

Let me encourage you to do something today. I obviously spend some time writing these devotions for you. I want you to spend some time writing a devotion for someone else.

A testimony is “the story of how you began a relationship with Jesus.” Write down your testimony. Tell how you came to know the Lord. (It doesn’t have to be big and dramatic. For many of us, it was slow and gradual.) But tell how you came to know God and what’s the difference he makes in your life.

•      You do this first for you benefit. It’s practice for sharing the story if and when God gives you the chance. 
•      Second, practice telling it … even among your closest church friends. You’ll see in their eyes the parts that resonate. And with practice, you’ll learn to tell it simply, quickly, and powerfully.
•      Finally, start praying about the first person you will share it with. You may have a person in mind. Or God may have a person in mind that you’re not even aware of yet.

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who couldn’t

come to know God fully

until he was fully humbled,

and doesn’t want others

to have to be humbled

before they know God