In this article we are going to talk about 10 habits that are making Christians more miserable. This comes off the back of watching a video by Todd Friel (linked below).
I don't aim to duplicate the full content of the video. I suggest watching the video for a more comprehensive understanding. My sole purpose here is to discuss something we are passionate about and hope to inspire in your journey—evangelism!
To summarise, here are the 10 habits that are making us miserable as Christians.
10. Thinking that every Christian must look and act like you.
9. Deny the sovereignty of God.
8. >>>Neglect Evangelism >> see our take on evangelism's role in alleviating misery below the video link ↓
7. Neglect service in the body of Christ
6. Resist Biblical correction
5. Go to a church that does not preach expositionally
4. Be selfish
3. Neglect prayer
2. Neglect the Bible
1. Try to repay Jesus for the cross
Click here to view the video:
Our take on evangelism's role in alleviating misery
In the video above, Todd talks about neglecting evangelism as one of the reasons why a Christian is miserable. He states that if we don’t do evangelism, we are not on the same page as God. It’s a commandment of God –
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15
In fact the Apostle Paul said “necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!” Open your Bible and ask God to show you why the Gospel should be preached to every creature. Open your Bible and ask why Paul said necessity was laid upon him and why is there a woe unto him if he did not preach it.
The Gospel and it’s preaching is the very
centre of human history. Christ’s reason for coming into the world was to preach the Good News. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave us the job of doing the same.
“we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20
If we are not doing these things, how can we expect to know God more and live out the life we were created to do? How can we be walking in His ways if we are not obeying the commandments? The consequence will be that we are not living the way God intended us to. He wants to bless us through it. Evangelism is a means of God’s grace upon us as believers!
It’s also the way in which we stir one another up to good works. “let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” Hebrews 10:24
I once asked a lady who really struggled with her sight, “do you use printed Gospel tracts to tell people about Jesus?” She said no. My mind instantly remembered an encounter I had with an elderly lady in a hospital ward some months earlier. I offered her a Gospel tract as I parted the ward. To which she said that she is blind. So I said it would be good for her to ask a nurse to read the tract to her.
Reflecting back, I realised this would be a great mercy upon the nurse and the blind lady. A double impact! But going back to the lady I asked the question to about using tracts herself. I said to her that maybe one way she could reach more people with the Gospel is to ask her carers to read the tracts to her. She would be blessed by the message and also bless every person that would do that for her!
I came away SO excited from that conversation! Not because of anything special I did, but because God had laid it on my heart to give a Gospel tract to the lady on the ward and He was able to do more than I expected through it.
The idea brought a wonderful smile to her face. She gladly accepted the printed tract to have someone else read to her.
These are the sort of works we can be about with, if we start participating in God’s command to evangelise!
Are there any good reasons not to evangelise?
I believe it was Ray Comfort who said that a neglect of evangelism is rooted in pride.
From this video we find 8 reasons a person might not share their faith:
Though the video is made to be amusing, it is also very serious –
The 8 reasons it mentions are
8. I might get beat up.
7. I won’t make sense.
6. I might be made fun of.
5. I won’t know where to start.
4. I’ll be a bad witness.
3. I’ll say the wrong thing.
2. I’ll be a religious nut.
1. I don’t know enough.
Ultimately, all of those reasons are selfish (all of them start with "I"). They underline what Ray Comfort says about it being rooted in pride.
“he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” John 11:25-26
You must die to self. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24
I challenge you – start prayerfully talking to people about Jesus – persevere and it will give you a joy and peace that passes understanding in Him. This is because He is to be found when we deny ourselves like Christ did. I don’t mean that you will have a worldly joy or worldly peace. It will be supernatural. Beyond anything the world will give you. And then encourage others to go into the world and tell people all about Jesus also.
You will make mistakes. It will be scary (but that fear won’t be from God – because He wants you to do it). There will be times when you might get beat up. But then Christ promises us persecution:
“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10
“all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12
It happened to Christ – why should it not happen to us?
There will be times when we say things and we don’t make sense. Pray about these times and ask the Lord for help.
In fact, all of those 8 “reasons” not to share your faith may well happen to you. But we need to realise they are just excuses not to do the work. When we realise our weaknesses in thinking these things, we then turn to the One we should depend upon for everything.
We really hope that this article has blessed you and encouraged you to evangelise more. If you know someone who is interested in evangelism, why not share this article with them? It may also of course be very helpful to those who don't evangelise.
Would you like some free printed Gospel tracts delivered to your door? A free printed Christian poster? We are able to help you print your testimony to share with others. We can help with all your Christian printing needs.
A Christian left us a five star Google review after we printed them some Christian flyers for an event. They said this:
“Nigel was excellent from start to Finish, offering a very competitive price, fast delivery and good product. He even went above and beyond when I noticed an error in the artwork we gave him, printing and delivering a new batch of flyers to within a business day. Will definitely be using again for any church printing needs.”
J Bailey