Fishing, Faith, and a Challenge.

Last night as thoughts filled my head, I was thinking back to a few years ago, when I became a Christian. I had such a zeal for knowledge that I would literally not just read my Bible everyday but I would buy books on theology, apologetics, evangelism, I did research, and I took classes so that I could know more about my faith. The more I read, the more I realized that as Christians, we need to be aware of the responsibilities that we have in our faith. One of those responsibilities is to share our faith with others, and to do it biblicly.

The biblical principal of sharing the gospel with someone is always, without exception, "Law to the Proud, and Grace to the Humble." What I mean by that is, we use the Law of God, The 10 Commandments, to show a sinner with a hardened heart his need for the Savior, and once he is humbled and can see how wretched he is, we give him the message of God's love and grace and how it was displayed to us on the cross. If a person is already humbled and sees him/herself as a rotten sinner in need of God's grace, then that is the only message that we need to give them.

Now, if we are to be "fishers of men" then we need to keep a principal of fishing in mind. We need to go where the fish are. Now sure enough, a fish might jump in the boat, just as a person might randomly start going to church and get saved, but its not all that likely. Instead we need to use tools to catch the fish, and God has given us the tools that we need to bring a person to Christ. That being the 10 Commandments. Listen to what Paul says about the law,"Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster, bringing us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith." I'll put it like this, the law taught us and gave us understanding of our need for Christ and brought us to Him so that we can be justified by faith. Without the understanding that the law gives, the message of the cross will sound foolish (see 1 Corinthians 1:18).

My challenge to my growing group of readers is to go out and start fishing. Witness to atleast one 3 people this week. If you want a harder challenge, then make it 1 person a day for the rest of the week. Don't forget to use the tools that God has given us to be "fishers of men". Use the law to hook them, and then use the gospel net to bring them in. For more information on how to share your faith I encourage you to visit The Way of the Master. It is very informative and encouraging. Also don't be shy, leave a comment and tell me how you did.