Volume 31 – 1990 (PDF) - Searching The Scriptures

Page 14
HOLDING BACK
I am troubled by a problem that I sometimes see in
myself, and perhaps you sometimes see it in yourself too.
The problem involves some of us who believe with all of
our hearts that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
yet somehow we "hold back" from talking about Him
and His word to people we really care about. And the
question that needs to be answered before we can remedy
this situation is WHY? Why do we hold back from
talking about Jesus and salvation?
It could be of course that our faith in Jesus is not as
strong as we think it is. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
"We having the same spirit of faith, according as it
is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken;
we also believe, and therefore speak" (2 Cor. 4: 13).
This passage seems to suggest that if we really believed
in some person or thing we would speak up about it. Why
wouldn't the same be true if we really believe in Jesus?
On one occasion a man came to Jesus asking that He cast
an evil spirit out of his son. Jesus said to him, "If thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth. And straightway the father of the child
cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help
thou mine unbelief (Mark 9: 23-24). Perhaps we need
to say the same thing!
Perhaps somehow we have failed to grasp that not
only do we need Jesus, but that all the world needs Him
in order to be saved. When Peter was answering by what
power the lame man at the gate of the temple had been
healed he said: "Be it known unto you all, and to all
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man
stand here before you whole.... Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved" (Acts 4: 10, 12). Knowing that
salvation is found only in Jesus, and really believing
that people outside of Him will be lost are two
different things. Do we really believe that the only hope
anybody has for eternal life is in Jesus? Then we
must quit "holding back. " We must speak.
Perhaps our problem is that we don't really want to
accept any responsibility in this matter. Like Cain we
may want to say, "Am I my brother's keeper?" In all
of our society today there are a lot of people who say, "I
don't want to get involved. " But when Jesus gave His
apostles the great commission as recorded in Matthew
chapter 28 He told them not only to go teach all nations
and baptize those who had been taught, but He also said:
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you" (Matt. 28: 20). If I understand
this it means that the apostles were to teach and
baptize people, and continue teaching all that Jesus had
said. But this would include teaching them to teach and
baptize. If this is so then each of us has some responsibility
to quit "holding back" and start speaking up; to
fulfill this commission in very generation.
Or perhaps our problem is one of fear. All of us have
areas where we are uncomfortable; where we are at least a
little afraid of the reaction of others to us. And often
this is true in the realm of religion. Sometimes we don't
want to offend people by disagreeing with them about
religious things, or make them think we are fanatics.
And certainly in our own families we don't want to cause
some rift so we "hold back" from gently, lovingly teaching
them about Jesus. And yet who do we care more
about than those in our own families?
Many of us are not combative or naturally aggressive
people, but surely this does not rule us out of telling
others about Jesus. I love the example shown in John
chapter 1. After some of the disciples of John began to
follow Jesus we find: "One of the two which heard
John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother. He first findeth his own
brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found
the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the
Christ. And he brought him to Jesus" (v. 40-42). And
just a few verses later we read that Jesus told Philip to
"Follow me. " Verse 45 says, "Philip findeth
Nathanael, and said unto him, We have found him,
of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did
write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. " Both
of these men had good news and they couldn't wait to
share it with people they cared about.
So what is my problem, and yours? Is it instead that
WE JUST DON'T CARE? I pray with all of my heart that
this is not true. Somebody cared enough about me and
you to bring us to Jesus. Perhaps it was our parents, or
a good friend. Who do you care enough about to bring
them to Jesus so that they too can be saved from their
past sins, and have the hope of eternal life? Let's quit
"holding back!" Let's get down on our knees and pray for
mercy, and for courage to speak the good news to all who
will hear! Let's start praying for the lost too, that
somehow we may find those who have honest and good
hearts so we can teach them about Jesus. And let's spend
some time preparing ourselves to teach by carefully
studying and learning more of the word of God and how
to communicate it to others. Remember that "joy shall
be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more
than over ninety and nine just persons, which
need no repentance" (Lk. 15: 7). If you care, tell
someone about Jesus!