(The following is the June 5 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Acts 22 and pay close attention to verses 1-22.)
How far can we go sharing the gospel with others? That may be a question more for the hearers to answer than for sharers because listeners may reach a point where they stop listening before we stop talking. Worse, they may do more than stop listening if we go beyond their tolerance limit. Such an adverse reaction happened to Paul.
Paul told a Jerusalem mob about his Jewish background being zealous for God and persecuting Christians. He spoke of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. But the hearers reacted harshly when Paul told of his instructions from the Lord and mission to the Gentiles. “They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, ‘Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!’” (v. 22). The hearers reached their limit.
Did Paul go too far? Should he have stopped speaking sooner? No. Paul was being a faithful, respectful witness for Christ. The listeners’ reaction says much more about them and the state of their hearts before God than it does about the manner or content of Paul’s speech. If they had been more like the Bereans of Acts 17, they would have eagerly listened and searched Scripture to know whether Paul’s claims were valid, but they didn’t. Paul was responsible for proclaiming the gospel and not for the listeners’ reactions to it.
We should be mindful of how we represent Christ. Our attitudes, words, and actions should be Christlike and consistent with Holy Spirit-filled ambassadors for Christ. We should respectfully speak the whole counsel and wisdom of God as revealed in the Bible. Like Paul, we cannot control the hearers’ reactions to what we say, but we can control our faithfulness to say it.
Next Step:
When speaking with unbelievers about the gospel, do you ever stop short of sharing all that you think you should? If so, why do you do that? What should you do differently? Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to be a faithful witness regardless of how others respond.
