Read and Grow

Bec invited Jesus into her life at the age of 18 and He changed her world.

“When I first came to know Him (Jesus) I was so insecure and so low. I didn’t trust anyone. I had no confidence in myself at all. He kind of met me there. He gave me everything I needed in that season and as the years have gone on life just presents its own challenges. In every season He’s always met me there.” — Bec

Early into her relationship with Jesus, Bec experienced the tragedy of losing her best friend to cancer. It weighed heavily on her heart that she had let her pride get in the way of talking about Jesus — not wanting to look weird.

“I gifted her a Bible for Easter the year she was in hospital, but that’s as close as I ever got to sharing my faith. I was meant to visit her on a Monday and the Sunday night I got a phone call saying she’d passed away. I was devastated because I felt like I’d just missed all my opportunities to share with her everything that I knew and felt. It sent me into a real downward spiral. I had just passed up her opportunity to meet Jesus. She wasn’t here anymore for me to share it so I battled with it for a while… I was just so mad at myself and mad at God even that I hadn’t stepped into that.” — Bec

The pain of this loss is a reminder to make the most of every opportunity to talk to people about Jesus.

“I would say to people struggling with their pride, that it’s so easy to get caught up in what this world offers us. The culture we live in now is so set on looking cool but we’re only here for a short amount of time and opportunities like that change someone's life here on earth and then eternity as well. I’d just say suck it up. Honestly it’s not worth it. The way you feel afterwards knowing that you’ve missed an opportunity to share with someone about Jesus, it’s just not worth it.” — Bec

Fast forward 5 years and Bec is one of the most joyful people you’ll ever meet. Her God-given strength?

“I can make a mean cheese board!” — Bec

People are drawn to her warmth which is in good use at the early childcare center she works at. Bec has the opportunity to chat to many different people every day.

“I try and meet people on the level that they’re at. I never want to be that person that pushes their faith so much onto someone that it makes them want to walk the other way. I want to share my faith openly but in a way that draws people in. Some people, their hearts are hard towards it, but that’s okay because mine once was too. But God works in mysterious ways and who knows what a little seed being planted does. I’ve taken people to church before who have asked to come and they’ve left and been like, ‘Mmm didn’t like that’ and it’s all cool. Everyone has their time.” — Bec

Her number one tip for sharing about Jesus with others?

“Love people — no, scratch that. Number one is to love God. When you love God you automatically love people.” — Bec

Sierra and Harrison met in the surf. She was on staff at a Bible College and he had recently returned from a mission trip when their casual conversations about life and faith took an unexpected turn. This is their story…

Sierra: I never expected to have feelings for someone I was sharing the Gospel with, especially not someone who wasn't of the same faith as me.

Harrison and I met when we were surfing. At the time I was on staff at a Bible School, and he mentioned that he had done a mission trip with a church from another faith background. And that was kind of the extent of our first conversation.

The first time we actually hung out besides surfing, I asked him to teach me about his faith. Subconsciously we kind of wanted to convert each other, but very consciously we were open to learn. We said to each other, "We're more passionate about knowing God and knowing the truth than we are about being right."

There was tension sometimes when we would discuss our different beliefs. When I first told him that he wasn't a Christian, that was a huge point of tension. We were driving and he just went really quiet and was visibly upset with his mannerisms. I asked, "Are you okay?" I didn't realize that what I said was going to be a shock to him. I could have said it gentler.

I really came to terms with being attracted to him maybe three months into our friendship. Navigating those feelings was difficult—we were constantly seeing each other and becoming really good friends. After about six months of knowing him, I just woke up one day with the peace of God that it was time to step away from this friendship before it turns into something that it shouldn't be (given where we were both at with our faith). But then...

Harrison: But then I shocked her. At the same time that she had felt a peace to end our friendship (for good reasons), I was also coming to strongly realize that she was actually correct in her theology and views of God.

Sierra is a pretty straight-up person. For someone investigating the Gospel from an outside perspective, it was very helpful to see that the person who's teaching you is actually open, humble, and willing to learn themselves. From that standpoint, the Gospel just speaks the truth of itself through them. Rather than it being about this person being right, it's more about Jesus being right.

Sierra: What I learned when I was sharing my faith was the importance of showing genuine care for the other individual so that it's based on a trusting relationship. This is what really creates an open heart in people.

Harrison: It takes time, and it takes research, and it takes prayer and patience with whoever you're teaching to just walk with them at their pace.

Sierra: And by the way, we're married, and it turned out that, yeah, God guided us all along.

How do you define faith? Have you ever taken a step of faith? Faith isn’t just about believing in God or the supernatural. Faith is exercised by every person, every day.

Taking a step of faith is simply making a choice when the outcome is uncertain. It can be something as important as deciding what career path to take or as trivial as whether you should pack an umbrella for the day.

Many people misunderstand faith. Author and Philosopher Peter Boghossian defines faith as “belief without evidence” and “pretending to know things you don’t know”¹. However, this is more akin to ‘blind faith’, not real faith.

So what is real faith?

Let’s answer that with a helpful illustration. Skydiving is an act of faith. Here’s why. When you skydive you don’t know for certain that you will make it to the ground safely, yet you place your entire life in the hands of your parachute. But this isn’t done blindly without reason. Parachutes have proven to be trustworthy and you know for a fact that parachute accidents are extremely rare. Faith in your parachute is based on evidence and experience.

In the same way, faith in God is based on evidence and experience. In the Bible, God always proved His trustworthiness before He asked anyone to have faith. Biblical faith is trusting in God because of the evidence, not in the absence of it.

The people in the Bible who had faith in God based it on experiences of His presence, and the evidence of His hand at work in their lives. They trusted God in the unknown because God had proven Himself to be trustworthy.

Do you believe God is trustworthy? Here are 2 ways that you can start to explore that answer.

1. Get to know who God is.

God has displayed His trustworthiness in the pages of the Bible. These are recorded ancient documents that detail God’s character and love as He interacted with them. It shows how God is understanding, powerful, shows mercy, and is on your side. They aren’t fairytales; they are accounts of events in history that have withstood the test of time.

2. Seek Him out for yourself.

Why can you trust your best friend? Because you’ve spent time with them and you know them. God is exactly the same. You can speak to God directly, start a friendship with Him, and even ask Him to help you to trust Him.

Every act of faith begins with a small step. Try praying to God and reading about Him in the Bible. You’ll be amazed by what you discover.

References
¹ Peter Boghossian “A Manual For Creating Atheists”, Chapter 2.

Church. What comes to mind when you hear that word? A building you can get married in? A place where only good people are allowed? A place your parents made you go as a kid, but it never seemed relevant.

Churches today have big screens, websites, billboards, coffee shops, bookstores, and counseling facilities. All of those things are fine, but none of those things are church.

Here’s what the church really is.

The church is a gathering of people who worship God, support each other and share Jesus with the community around them. In its purest form, it has nothing to do with a building – the church began 2000 years ago with people meeting together in homes. Fundamentally, church is all about the people.

It’s important for Christians to regularly meet together. It’s not an obligation that makes God happy. Christians meet together to be reminded of God’s goodness, to support each other, and to participate in a movement that’s bigger than one person.

Since church is all about the people, there’s no such thing as a perfect church because every person is flawed. You may have met Christians who claim to be perfect or good but with all due respect, they’re lying. A fundamental part of being a Christian is recognising that you’re not good and that’s why you need Jesus. So take the pressure off – there’s no need to pretend to be perfect.

You don’t have to be a Christian to go to church and you don’t need to believe to belong to a community of faith. You’re welcome anytime.

So, what can you expect when you visit a church service?

Singing - This is called worship, and it’s a way for Christians to celebrate and acknowledge the goodness of God together.

Preaching - This is an encouraging message usually about Jesus and how the teachings in the Bible can help you live your best life. The message can be anywhere from 20 minutes up to an hour depending on the church.

Offering - Generosity is a foundational principle when it comes to following Jesus. The offering is one way to express generosity and it’s also how the church community supports the church organization and its ministries. If you’re visiting, there’s no pressure for you to contribute.

Communion - Christians often remember Jesus through symbolism. The bread and wine or grape juice shared during communion represent Jesus’ death and resurrection. Remembering the power of this event has great meaning for Christians. If you’re visiting, you are welcome to participate or just watch.

Other - Every church is unique and will have creative and different ways of outworking a church service. As a visitor, there’s no pressure to join in – you can just come along and watch.

Why not give church a go this Sunday? Search for a nearby church online, or ask a Christian friend if you can go along with them. They’ll be stoked you asked and you’ll probably be surprised how much you enjoy it!