What Have You Heard About Jesus? (PARENTS AS EVANGELISTS)

When I read stories like the woman with the issue of blood (Mark5:24–34), the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24–30), blind Bartimaeus (Mark10:46–52), Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1–10), the centurion (Matthew 8:5–13), etc., I get very excited—but not about their great faith even though that is all wonderful. Instead, it is what they heard about Jesus that fascinates me. I wonder what kind of report they heard from the people who told them about Jesus that made them want to seek Him out.

Perhaps the people who shared the news about Jesus were neighbors or family members. They could have even been friends who had seen Jesus perform a miracle right before their eyes, or perhaps they had heard from others about Jesus, and they were passing along the latest gossip in town to these individuals.

Whatever the case, there’s something beautiful about what these individuals did with the message they heard about Jesus. Imagine someone like Bartimaeus. He was blind, so we can say that he relied solely on what he heard. But he didn’t just hear and let what he heard go in one ear and out the other. He heard and believed.

Just like Bartimaeus, to some extent, we all were spiritually blind before we came to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Unless you are over 2,000 years old and lived in Israel during Jesus’ time on earth, you didn’t see Jesus being crucified on the Cross. But you heard someone share the good news of His death and resurrection, and you believed.

Do you remember the first time you heard about Jesus? What did you hear? Are you willing to pay it forward to enable others to hear about Jesus?

Some parents love to share with their kids what they have used or done and seen good results. We encourage our children to try new things. For example, something as simple as telling your children that vegetables and fruits are good for them and that they should try them sounds like evangelism to me.

Two years ago, I signed my youngest son up for swimming lessons, and he was unhappy about it. He was so afraid of getting in the water. He didn’t even want to play the shallow area, but his instructor and I kept encouraging him to try the shallow area. After he did that, we gradually urged him to move to the next level of where his lessons needed to be. After a long pep talk, he decided to step out in faith. When his lesson ended, he had made strides in overcoming his fear of the water.

As Christian parents, we have an excellent opportunity to show our children the amazing possibilities that exist in this world. We can ask them to try new experiences, activities, and tasks that stretch their comfort zones and instilling them a healthy sense of fearlessness. This could include learning to say hi to new people, increasing their physical activity level by exploring different sports or outdoor activities or trying new food. Whatever it may be, finding ways to keep our children out of their comfort zone allows them to gain confidence and push themselves further as they grow up.

Parents, evangelism is that simple and easy because we do it unconsciously with our kids more often than we are conscious of. We are constantly encouraging them to try new and challenging things. I find it interesting that it seems easier to evangelize about all kinds of different things to our kids than to evangelize about God. As evangelists in our homes, God is counting on us to keep motivating our kids to try Jesus.