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Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone (Colossians 4:5-6, NLT).
We are entrusted by Jesus to make the good news about Him known to others. The most difficult “sharing Jesus” moments can be with relatives, but we are the best — perhaps the only — believers to tell our families about Jesus.
Remember to do three things: Pray for an opportunity (and to know when it is an opportunity), ask for boldness, and pray for wisdom in choosing the right words.
After my wife and I were married, we visited her grandparents in New Jersey for several consecutive years. They lived in the hills overlooking the Hudson River and New York City. It was easy to drive from Ohio to New Jersey via well-marked interstates, but when we exited the major highway, we faced circuitous roads with ups and downs and switchbacks. The first time we tried to drive there (1977 with no Google Maps®), I thought several times that I would oversteer a curve and fly off the road into the Hudson River.
The next time my wife and I went to her grandparents, I asked Andy, her father, for directions. His legible penmanship provided us with detailed instructions. If we paid attention to all the turns and looked for the road markers, we would arrive without spinning endlessly around circuitous roads.
His instructions went something like this …
Whew, we made it without incident! And I noticed from the gashes in the tree at the bottom of that hill that some drivers didn’t have Andy write their directions.
About 20 years later, Andy was in a nursing home. With his kidneys failing, he had only a few days to live. Andy was a great father-in-law, a good man, with a believing wife and children, but we had never heard Andy profess Jesus as his Lord and Savior. I knew that I needed to talk with my father-in-law about his relationship with Jesus.
I prayed on the way to the nursing home, “Father, give me the opportunity with no one else in the room, help me to be bold, and give me the right words.”
Andy was alone in the room, and after a few minutes of greeting, I asked him, “Andy, I don’t want to judge your faith, but do you have confidence that when you pass from time to eternity that you will be in heaven?”
He answered, “No.”
Inspired, I asked, “Remember how you used to write out specific instructions on how to get to Barbara’s grandparents’ (and your parents’) house in New Jersey?”
He responded, “Yes.”
After telling Andy the Scriptural directions about faith in Jesus, confession, repentance, and how to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior, I asked if he wanted to pray the prayer of salvation with me.
He said, “Yes!”
The family is now confident that Andy is in heaven. Below are the directions that you can use to share Jesus with your relatives and friends …
