How to share Jesus with others when you’re afraid

The setting sun painted the summer sky pink. I sat alongside my parents on the queen-sized bed I shared with my sister.

That’s all I remember about that evening—the evening my 5 year-old heart recognized Jesus’s love for me and my need for Him.

So with a bowed head and a simple prayer, I put my faith in Jesus as my Savior.

That was over 25 years ago, and in that time there has been happiness, longing, sorrow, overwhelm, loss, learning, confusion, discontentment, loneliness, trusting, seeking, finding, provision…

Through it all, Jesus has been my Sustainer—giving grace, igniting hope, filling with joy. And I want to share that grace, hope, and joy with others. But I’m often afraid to share Jesus with others.

What will they think? How will they respond? What if I don’t have the right words or answers? What if I come across preachy or just plain weird? Is this the right time and place? Is my testimony really good enough to convince anyone of Jesus’s goodness?

I think of the woman at the well: coming to draw water in the middle of the day to avoid others, meeting Jesus who offers her living water, leaving her water jar behind to go invite those she was hiding from: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.” (John 4:4-30, 39-42, NIV)

How can we cultivate such courage to share Jesus with others when we’re afraid to?

Pray
This is where we can start—naming our fears and offering them to the Lord, asking Him for the courage to share and for the wisdom to know when and how to share.

Share your story
The story of the woman at the well is just one of many in Scripture where someone encountered Jesus, then shared their story with others. Story is powerful, because it’s personal, and it’s often shared in the context of relationship. Each one of us has a story of how we met Jesus and how He has been faithful in our lives.

We don’t have to have all the right answers or know all the theological terms. We can simply share our story as an invitation for others to “Come and see.”

Trust the Holy Spirit
There may be times when we feel like we’re messing up all our words, when we think back of better ways we could’ve answered; when it seems like they’re just not interested in what we have to say and the conversation is going nowhere.

As we follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, whether we’re sharing the Gospel or sharing a plate of cookies, we can trust the Holy Spirit to do His work of convicting and drawing people to the Lord.

Let’s not let fear stop us from sharing Jesus with others. He is greater than our fears, He is so worth sharing, and there are many who need to hear about Him.


Scripture for meditation

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him…39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
-John 4:28-30, 39

Prompts for reflection or journaling

Write a prayer naming the fears you have about sharing Jesus and asking the Lord to give you courage in the midst of those fears.

Take some time to remember and write down your story of meeting Jesus and putting your faith in Him, and some ways He has been faithful in your life since.

Who could you share your story with?

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