Courage Over Comfort when Sharing the Gospel

It has been both a conviction and a thought of mine lately as to what it would look like to truly, relentlessly, and wholly, live out what I say I believe.

It’s honestly a difficult thing to think about, because the picture that comes to my mind involves quite a bit of discomfort. I think it would involve me actually sharing the Gospel and telling people about Jesus and who He is, but for some reason that’s always been hard for me. For me, it’s purely insecurity and feeling like I don’t have enough knowledge to accurately present the Gospel and answer any questions that might be thrown back at me.

So, my solution to this has consistently been to just not do it. Quite frankly, that’s sad and difficult to stomach. Because the actual solution should be to spend more time daily with Jesus, getting to know Him more and improving my literacy and understanding of the Bible. But it just always seems that whenever I come to a sticking point in my walk with God, I for some reason always choose the path of least resistance, which in turn is mostly always the wrong path.

Maybe you can relate with me. Maybe your sticking point isn’t insecurity, maybe it’s because you’re introverted, or maybe it’s selfishness. What if selfishness is manifesting itself in your life to the point where you feel like it’s not your responsibility to share the Gospel with people? I can speak from experience there, cause I fall into that category too. Except the fact of the matter is that as Christians, if we are truly believing and abiding Christians, it is our responsibility to share the Gospel. Jesus made that very clear in Matthew 28 with the Great Commission.

My hope is that this would light a fire in you. Thinking and meditating on these thoughts has lit a fire in me to make a change. While it’s comfortable to sit back and believe that Jesus is Lord and that ultimately your eternity is sealed in Heaven, I’ll ask the question of shouldn’t there be more?

What would it be like if by and large, Christians around the globe stopped accepting comfort (which ultimately just transitions into laziness) and decided to actually make a footprint? And I’m not talking about picking up everything and moving to Africa. What if we decided that we were going to be faithful where we are and tell the people around us who Jesus is and the power that He has to change lives? That would be incredible. Because while it’s super cool to preach to the masses, if you and I were simply faithful where we are now with the people around us, we would ultimately be preaching to the masses.  

The thought that has been heavy on my heart is this: how do we bridge the gap and transition from belief to lifestyle?

Hebrews 3:6 says:

“Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast”

What is courage? A common, and very well deserving example is our men and women who serve in the military. They’re considered courageous because they willingly leave the comfort of their lives to risk it all for our safety and freedom. Another example is Jesus, who willingly took a hard pass on immediate gratification and comfort at the right hand of God, to come to earth and face persecution, slander, and execution for our eternal freedom.

The common theme is simple: denial of immediate comfort to pursue a cause that serves toward a greater reward or purpose.

Reading this scripture, I was confronted with the hard truth that I had fallen into a pattern of complacency and comfort in my relationship with Christ for far too long. The fact of the matter is that courage, isn’t a quality that marks my relationship. There’s nothing courageous about believing in Christ quietly. There’s nothing courageous about living a moral life but never telling anyone why I choose to live that way.

Courage is found when we’ll choose to deny the immediate comfort that concealment and passivity bring and take a step of faith to tell the world how true it is that Jesus has the power to change lives. It’s uncomfortable, I know, but courage and comfort don’t coexist. Courage is found when we choose to speak truth into a world full of lies because we realize that the sole reason our world is full of lies is because people who claim to be Christians are punting on the responsibility to compassionately speak truth. Myself included.

Courage produces discomfort. It’s hard. But courage is rooted in the goal that you’re taking action for a greater purpose. And when we choose to speak out and boast of the hope we have found in Christ, the greater purpose is that someone else might cling to that hope and have their life on earth, and in eternity forever changed. And quite frankly, no amount of discomfort should outweigh the sheer awesomeness of that possibility.

Look at the verse again. It speaks to us having courage and boasting of our hope in Christ. And that courage and boasting is a product of Christ living within us. So, that begs that question of, if we aren’t living loud, boasting of Christ and exemplifying courage in how we reach out to people, is Christ really living within us? It’s a question that I think is worth considering. If you’re not there yet, that’s okay. Neither am I. But it is my conviction that as believing and abiding Christian’s, we should all be moving in that direction.

I can’t shake the thought that it is often so easy to say that we believe in God, but it is often so hard to actually walk forward and be obedient to God’s commands and trust His promises. Hebrews 3:6 promises that if we will hold tight to the courage and hope that we have in Jesus, we will be His House, and He is faithful always to His house. So my brothers and sisters, have courage.

Here’s to living louder - boasting of how awesome God truly is.

Sharable Quotes:

Noah Rivera // Humbled Daily Co-founder, Wyoming native and petroleum engineer.