Fear of Success
Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
- Matthew 28:18-20
One reason we don't evangelize is because of a fear of failure. We don't want to tell someone about Jesus and have them shut us down or blow us off or laugh in our face. But I think there is another reason we don't evangelize: fear of success. Why? We don't know what we would do then. Now what?
It reminds me of when I went fishing years ago with my friend Franklin Graham and caught a bunch of fish. That was the good part. I had never cleaned fish before, so I asked Franklin if he would clean them for me.
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"No," he said. "Clean your own fish."
"I have never really done it," I told him.
"So . . . time to learn."
I had to cut the fish open and clean out the fish. The fun part was catching them. But then I had to actually clean them.
We want to go out and tell others about Jesus. But if they believe, are we ready to take the next step? It means taking that person who has accepted Christ under our wing, getting him on his feet spiritually, and showing him an example of what a Christian looks like. And guess what? Then we do it again. That is fulfilling the Great Commission.
Jesus said, "Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always . . ." (Matthew 28:19–20). That is our job. Every one of us is called to seek to win people to Christ and then disciple them. And then we are to do it again and again and again.
