Dad, That's Easy

Just a brief thought for your musing pleasure this morning…

I was recently eating a hasty supper with my family. It was a Tuesday night and I needed rush back out the door to return to the church for our Grace Evangelism class and visitation ministry. Understanding that I was leaving to teach a class, my 6 year old daughter, Elisabeth, asked what I was going to be teaching about on that night. Underestimating her comprehension, as I usually do, I simplified my answer to, “I am going to be talking about how to tell people about Jesus.” “Dad, that’s easy. Why do you need a class?” was the profoundly elementary reply.

As my wife looked at me with the all too familiar “what are you going to say now” look, I wondered, “what am I going to say now?” “Well, yes, Elisabeth, it can be easy, but…” And I fumbled around a bit and shoved my food in my mouth and ran out the door with my tail between my legs, soundly rebuked by my own conscience, aided by my traitorous six year old! This was the same girl that set me straight days later. We had the neighbor kids over playing around the house, which has become the norm with the warming of the weather. The children to our east are from a broken home, living most of the time with their father next door to us. On this particular afternoon, I could not find Elisabeth. Seeking help from Rebekah, my 5 year old, I was informed she and Wesley, the little boy from next door, had gone upstairs. Now, Elisabeth knows not to bring the neighborhood kids into the house without their parents permission, especially upstairs to the bedrooms. So I went in to retrieve them, already prepared to deliver a little lecture. As I reached the top of the stairs, I saw them in my bedroom. Now there was real trouble. I sent Wesley downstairs and sent Elisabeth to her bedroom. Once Wesley was out of earshot, I demanded, none too quietly, “Why did you have Wesley in the house? Why were you upstairs, and why were you in my room? You know…” and on the lecture began. When I finally came up for air and let Elisabeth speak, she gave me her story. She and Wesley had been sitting on the front porch and she was trying to tell Wesley about his need of trusting Jesus. She decided she needed her Bible and Rebekah kept interrupting them. So she invited Wesley to come inside with her so she could get her Bible and look up John 3.16. She could not find her Bible and was in my room to get an extra one off our bookcase.

Right, egg all over my face! Sometimes the important lessons we learn come from unexpected places.

But what of the brief comment Elisabeth made at our dinner table that Tuesday evening, “Dad, that’s easy!” Is “telling people about Jesus” easy? I am not sure that question has a simple answer. In one sense, we can answer with a resounding “Yes!” Gospel-speak should naturally flow off the lips of every true believer. We should be able to say like Paul (and my daughter) “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!” (Rom 1.16). But in another sense, sharing the gospel with people can be difficult. There are certain elements of the gospel that, when brought together, form the heart of the matter: namely, the holiness of God, the utter inability of man, the sufficiency of Christ and the necessity of faith alone in Christ alone. Any presentation of the gospel minus any of these core elements is not a complete gospel. We must be careful not to dumb down the gospel in our great desire to share the life-transforming hope of Jesus Christ.

So, as Elisabeth reminded me, it is easy! But it is hard work at the same time. Does Gospel-speak flow naturally from your lips? Do you accurately communicate the heart of the Gospel to people in your sphere of influence? Are you ashamed of the Gospel? Remember: it is the power of God for those who believe!

Grace to You!