Evangelize for the glory of Christ!

So last weekend I drove down to Tennessee with Alli and her sister (yes, in my Prelude... which now has 240,000 miles... and is still going strong!!); their cousin was getting married on Sunday. Great weekend, and a beautiful part of the country, by the way!

Before going down there, however, I guess I didn't pay too much attention to the fact that the majority of that side of their family are Jehovah's Witnesses. I had never before spent any time sitting down with a Jehovah's Witness to discuss their personal beliefs, so I decided to go to one of their services, and spent a good while over the weekend talking with a couple of the cousins, an aunt, an uncle, and various other people in their congregation. When asked what my thoughts were, I was honest with all of them in saying that, although I appreciated the Sunday service and their genuine hospitality, I disagreed greatly with their doctrines... especially their view of Jesus: not as God, but as the first-created of the angelic beings, Michael the Archangel.

During these discussions, I found myself getting frustrated at my lack of ability in pulling specific Scripture references to support my beliefs on various points. Now, this frustration was not due to me not being able to win over another person in a theological debate. No... I don't believe that it was not that kind of prideful frustration. Rather, I was frustrated that the glory of Jesus was not being shown to its full extent during these conversations, and lifted up in adoration and praise for what it truly is. At least it wasn't to my eyes, at any rate; but I'm not a faithful judge of that. Who knows how God used/is using/will use those conversations to glorify His Christ.

Long story short, though, God used these discussions over the weekend to put a renewed fire in my soul to continue learning Scripture as much as I possibly can, and to preach the Gospel with less timidity. I feel frustrated that Jesus' glory is being trampled on everywhere we turn! In short, God gave me a renewed vision for evangelism this weekend. And I wanted to share this here because I believe this vision is important not just for me, but as an encouragement to any brothers and sisters who might read this.

In our spreading the good news of Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross, His glory is at stake. God does not "need" our help in order to declare the glory of His Son; He can certainly make rocks cry out, or raise up Abraham's children from among them. However, as Christians, we have the extreme privilege of being able to bless, and be blessed, by declaring God's plan for salvation, and in this, to not only see souls brought into eternal glory... but to also see the glory of Jesus Christ be declared as the perfected, divine, awe-inspiring, mouth-stopping thing that it is! This, alone, should give us reason to preach the Gospel to every person that we meet!

When the truth of Christ's work on the cross as a divine propitiation for the sins of mankind is not preached, His glory does not shine forth as splendidly as it should. So, let's ask God that He would give us monthly, weekly, even daily opportunities to preach of the cross to others, and when we do so, let us remember that we preach not only of personal salvation, but of the glory of Christ!