Sometimes I feel discouraged about sharing my faith, but I came across something recently that encouraged me.
It’s just this: humanly speaking, the gospel is unbelievable. It’s so incredible that the only way anyone could possibly come to faith is through the work of the Holy Spirit.
If you ever forget this truth, like I do, just take a look at the disciples and how bad they were at grasping it themselves.
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mark 16
Literally one sentence after Jesus criticizes the disciples for not believing that he rose from the dead, he sends them out to tell other people about this and encourage others to believe.
They are sent out to tell others to believe in this thing that they, just a moment ago, could hardly believe themselves.
Kind of drives home the point that our own efforts will never be able to convince someone to come to faith.
We should “urge people to be reconciled to God.”
But in the end, it has to be the Holy Spirit.
We plant seeds.
We water seeds.
We harvest seeds.
But God creates the growth.
You can rest in that. Just scatter seeds!
Leave a Reply