10) People will think I'm weird, strange or stupid.
9) I'll make people uncomfortable.
8) That's just not my gift.
7) That's the pastor's job.
6) I'm afraid that I won't have the "right" answers.
5) I don't want to appear pushy.
4) I just want to witness through my life.
3) I don't want to drive people away.
2) Once I talk about Jesus, people will be looking for my every flaw and failure.
1) My own relationship with Christ is not that great; why export that?
I just wrote these as a sort of stream-of-consciousness, brain drain based on past comments from people and my own excuses. But what I really want to know are your personal reasons. I know there are many valid reasons and I want to try to help address these. Perhaps you already have an idea of a resource we could provide that would help you. Let me know that as well.
I'm pretty sure I have used almost all of those at one time or another. However, the one that I try to pay attention to is: am I doing this in my time or God's time. I want to be sure that the Holy Spirit is leading me and usually when I do that my words are God inspired and not "me" inspired. I know this sounds just like the rest of the excuses and maybe it is.
ReplyDeleteBill,
ReplyDeleteI don't see that as an excuse at all. It is a wise course of action. I would always recommend that you follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. That said, we need to refine our listening skills in that area. I believe that the Holy Spirit prompts us to say or do things far more frequently than we recognize. Or at least I think we get prompted more often than we are willing to respond. This requires retraining ourselves. My current rule of thumb is, when in doubt, more forward with as much grace as possible. As I do that, I am provided with more opportunities. When I don't respond, I see fewer opportunities. And most opportunities have a short shelf life. Unfortunately, many have tuned out that voice for so long, they no longer recognize it at all. And many times, one of the top 10 excuses trumps the voice of the Holy Spirit. One excuse that I should have included in the top 10 is "I'm too busy right now." Who hasn't used that one?
Another test.
ReplyDelete