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Hopefully, you read the title and are instantly as intrigued as I was the first time the thought popped into my mind. To be honest, the thought came to my mind as I was listening to a popular old hymn. In the song “I Love to Tell the Story”, the last verse includes the following words: “I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting, to hear it like the rest”. Clearly, this is a song about evangelism, about telling of the “good news” of Jesus and his love. Some of you probably never even heard the song before, but I’d bet that even those who have heard it haven’t really thought about the meaning of all the lyrics. The first 2 verses talk about the joy of the sharer in telling the story of Jesus, the 3rd verse talks about sharing with those who haven’t heard it, and the last verse (partially quoted above) talks about sharing with “those who know it best”. That’s pretty all-encompassing!

Evangelism is often viewed as something that targets those who are not saved with the goal of “saving” them. We all know that sinful human beings can’t “save” anyone from God’s wrath because of sin and that such a task could only be completed by the One who is perfect and who “was God”. We simply believe it by faith and receive it by grace (and even our choice to faithfully believe comes by grace and the urging of the Holy Spirit). So because we cannot save ourselves or anyone else, I have to believe that evangelism is for the Christians too!

When we think about what evangelism really means, which Katie did a great job of explaining in Monday’s blog, the idea that it is also for Christians becomes even more appropriate. To evangelize means to share the “good news”. I don’t know about you, but I became a Christian in 1994 and I have needed to hear the good news many times since then. You see, the good news is not just that we are freed from the penalty of sin and can spend eternity with our Creator. While that is amazing news, none of us can understand the full effect of that news until this life comes to an end. So how do we deal with the pain and consequences of sin in the meantime, as fleeting as they may be?

If you’ve ever asked that question, you’re in luck. Jesus didn’t just come and die so that we could get into heaven. He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The good news of Jesus Christ is BOTH that we have our blessed assurance with the Father for all of eternity AND that we have a fresh outlook on this temporary home we call “earth” and the challenges it brings. When we feel burdened by our sins, battered by others, or bombarded by the flaming arrows of the evil one, we can “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10). When we have troubles in this world, we can “take heart, for Christ has overcome the world” (John 16:33). It is true that we should do everything in our power to communicate the message of good news to those who have never heard it or accepted it. But it is also true that we should remind each other of what the good news means for our daily lives and not just what it means for eternity. We never know when a simple word of testimony about what God has done for us might be just what a brother or sister in Christ needs to hear for encouragement. So, if it is true that we ought to be sharing the good news with those who are not saved and those who are, well that includes everyone. Translation – don’t EVER stop telling the story of Jesus and his love!