Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Pain and Joy.

Too often, Christians are believed to be people who never experience the pain of life; rather, they are “entitled” to experience only joy. Certainly, we Christians understand the fallacy of this perception. We know from our own personal experience that we, too, suffer from times of pain and sadness. We experience the death of a loved one. We experience the loss of a job. We experience the pains of physical, mental and emotional illnesses. Yes, we Christians suffer the ills of this world in the same way as our non-Christian counterparts.

Unfortunately, there are too many Christians who think they need to keep up appearances, especially during difficult times. What we fail to realize is that when we work so hard at keeping up appearances during difficult times, we are making a witness to our non-Christian friends which, they may either not understand may think too difficult for them to follow, which would keep them from wanting to be a Christian.

Think about this: If you were not a Christian, and you knew someone who was and this person always “seemed” cheerful, even during times that you knew they were having difficulties, would that not make you stop and think? You might think that your Christian friend is either really strong in his/her faith, or more than likely, that s/he has no emotions; otherwise, s/he would not be so happy at a time when you know s/he should be sad.

We witness best when we witness that we, too, are human beings living in a sin-filled world and that we suffer the same difficulties of our non-Christian counterparts. The exception is that we have Someone to cling to and we have Someone who holds us up during our difficult times. We have God, Who is always there with us to give us comfort and encouragement during difficult days, as He has demonstrated numerous times. We also have a family of Christian brothers and sisters who work to encourage and build us up as well.

What a great witness, especially during difficult times, to let our unchurched family and friends know that we are affected by the trials and tribulations of this world, but, we also have a faith that sustains us during these difficult times. Thus, we witness what a great God we have.

19 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs