Share Jesus Without Freaking Out series post 8/8
Principle 8: Developing a lifestyle of sharing Jesus consistently flows out of a plan to share Jesus regularly.
I teach a weightlifting class to high school students at my school. Every week I receive a workout log detailing muscles worked, exercise type, weight, and the number of repetitions. Upper body workouts include working out the chest, back, shoulder, and arm muscles while lower body workouts include working out the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and abs. Whenever one is working out, it important to have a plan. When I walk in the school’s weight room, I know my routine.
My personal fitness plan involves maintaining tone, balance, and agility. I am less interested in obtaining mass. I am not trying to set a world record bench press for my weight class. I don’t run long-distances every day, but I do run frequently. I hardly ever sprint unless I am playing sports and in the summer, you can find me punching or kicking a bag, jumping rope, and or lifting a medicine ball.
My personal fitness plan is different than many other people’s fitness plans because it is a plan that fits me. A student recently asked me why I took the elevator at school. I told him because I run three miles after school. Some people would not even go outside on a hot day to run, while others would say three miles is not enough. If I were training for a half-marathon, I would have to increase my foot mileage.
Having a personal fitness plan relates to having a spiritual witness plan! Unlike my personal fitness plan, do I desire to be at the same place ten years from now in my spiritual witness? Of course not! I want to grow in my ability to witness every day and I still have a long way to go. I have some goals in my witness plan and over time, I hope to achieve my goals. As Dr. Reid has written about, take time to evaluate your gospel conversations so you can see how to tweak them for your next witnessing encounter. You have never arrived and must always live with a holy discontent if you are to be the best evangelist you can be.
Lately, I have been learning the value of principle-based living. The Bible is full of principles! For example, the biblical principle of Seed – Water – Growth is a great principle for an evangelist (1 Cor 3:6). You are not always going to win a new convert when you tell others about Jesus, but you may have just planted a gospel seed in someone’s heart or watered on someone else’s implanted gospel seed.
Dr. Reid gives five principles for a life plan of witness: (1) Focus your life on the gospel of Jesus Christ, (2) Understand the factors that help your personal witness: giftedness, calling, and deep satisfaction, (3) From the concentric circles exercise on p. 96, identify in your circles of influence people you already know who don’t know Christ, (4) Regularly stop to assess your plan with an accountability partner or mentor, and (5) Pray daily for your witness and for those to whom you will witness.
At my school, we allow students to have time during the day to get up and move around on the upstairs walking track that surrounds the school’s gym. Walking and or running can help ease the mind and bring about greater levels of concentration and focus. In an academic setting, exercise is vital. Rest is important too! You probably remember nap time in kindergarten but do you ever give yourself nap time at work or at home? A fifteen-minute power nap does wonders for the soul!
Always return to your why. Why should you have a physical fitness plan and a spiritual witness plan? Because your overall health and well-being is directly linked to how long and how well you will be able share Jesus with others! You can take that principle to the bank!