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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: EMBARRASS(ED) (11/03/16)
“Wow,” he thought as he started his car after work. “It’s a minor miracle God doesn’t just take me out like a bag of trash. “ Winston failed again - felt the Lord push him toward sharing the gospel with someone at his job and he had remained quiet. “C’mon God,” he said, getting ready to fire up the justification he was so expert at. “This is my job. I’ve got kids to feed. I can't share something like my faith to my world-loving gene researcher coworkers and expect them to listen without giving them something they can test? They’ll rake me over the hot coals of science and make me look like a fool. And then HR will want to talk to me too, they aren’t much for public display of religion.”
Some would say Winston was a little “familiar” when speaking with God, but Winston learned long ago not being honest with God got you nowhere. And being honest with God in prayer meant having a conversation rather than anything formal or rote in his case. Winston and God had been to every dark place in Winston's soul so there wasn’t much left to be formal about.
And today Winston was having a hard time dealing with his internal conflict of sharing the gospel, mostly because he had a good idea of what the real problem was. He truly believed Christ saved his eternal soul, yet he was afraid to bring it up to coworkers for fear he would look foolish. He generally was pretty non-religious at work, once even joining in on some anti-church bashing to appear to be part of the group but felt so bad afterward he never did again. The HR excuse was partially valid, but that wasn’t the whole story. He was always terribly embarrassed to share his faith with people “like him.” Scientists, people who knew the difference between a hypothesis and a theory. Poor people on the street? No problem! Peers? No way! Not that his faith was silly to him, but it was silly to science, and a scientist believing a silly thing without proof was embarrassing.
Winston drove on toward home, praying and wrestling in his mind and spirit. Why be embarrassed of something that saves souls? For all eternity! It made no sense. If he knew a cure for cancer he would be shouting it from the rooftops, but here he was with a cure for eternal damnation and he was afraid to put it out there. Maybe he didn’t really believe? No, while his faith wavered from time to time, he believed. But embarrassed of some thing like this?
Winston was stuck, spiritually anyway, Cars were still moving an the freeway so he wasn’t completely at a standstill. Then Winston had an awful thought, one of those mind pictures that Winston hated because they were so true. He could see his friend to whom he failed to witness frying like bacon in hell, all the while praising Winston as to what a smart, non-superstitious coworker he was. Winston suddenly saw the net result of loving the world and its approval more than the souls of his coworkers.
No wonder Jesus said “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. is ashamed of me I will be ashamed of in my kingdom.” It wasn’t an ego thing, it was a life and death thing. Winston could have only gotten lower if he had stopped driving his car and crawled under it. But, at the same time he felt some relief, and for whatever kind reason some forgiveness as well. So what could Winston do? He knew he had to do something. Maybe go to work tomorrow morning and throw down the gospel and say to heck with the job and feeding the kids and so on? Maybe not. But maybe he could sneak in the reason he was employee of the year last year, the reason being doing all things for Christ of course. Maybe he could sneak in the whole Jesus thing every time he did something nice. Sort of win them over with gentle, workplace appropriate suggestions and behavior, and let God do the rest. And maybe say something once in a while. Worth a shot, anyway.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Larry Whittington
11/14/16
It may have said somewhere that Paul was a fool for Christ but he was not ashamed of it.

I do know that it says, some one plants and some one waters but God gives the increase so it is up to God in the end for the results. We can never know if the Holy Spirit has been touching a person's heart before we started. Have we been praying the the person for any length of time previously?

Another thought. Was it the Holy Spirit that prevented the conversation because of the situation or surroundings?

Our love for others should show others Christ in us before our words ever do.

We need to "let our life shine" so at the right time our words will not be force.
Bonnie Bowden 
11/17/16
Congratulations on winning 3rd place in the Beginners category.

I have a hard time sharing the gospel in an evangelistic way, too. However, actions speak louder than words.I am prepared to tell them what makes me different if asked.