Do you ever talk about Jesus with other Christians?

If you were to join a local football club, and you were relaxing with other football club members after the game, what do you think you would talk about? I have never been part of a football club, but I’ll hazard a guess: you would talk about football. It is what all of you have in common. Sure, you would share some personal stuff too and discuss the hot topics of the day, but the core would be football.

Now think back to the last conversation you had with other people from your church. What did you talk about? Maybe it was football! While there is nothing wrong with talking about football, I do think that Christians can do better than this. Too often we talk about how our week was, what is happening with our children, what we think of the latest news topic, or even the weather, but there is little talk about God. Even just after hearing a sermon, it is quite unusual in many church circles to be talking about that sermon.

Football club members are united around football, so it makes sense that they would talk about football. You don’t need to encourage them to talk about football; it is their passion, so it flows naturally out of them. You wouldn’t be able to stop them if you tried! Christians are united around what Jesus has done for us. Yet, in too many cases, we don’t talk about Jesus with one another as we naturally should.

I think that one reason why many Christians don’t actively talk to their friends about Jesus is because they don’t talk to anyone about Jesus. If we struggle to speak about Jesus to those who are already convinced, speaking to the sceptical will seem so much more difficult. The best evangelists I know are people who you will always end up speaking about God with. They are not manipulating the conversation or adding in the topic where it doesn’t belong; it flows out of them.

Why do you think so many Christians rarely speak about God with others? There are all kinds of reasons. If we rarely open our Bibles and pray, the things of God will rarely be on our minds and so we will rarely speak of them. If our real priorities in life are our careers and hobbies, those are the things that naturally flow out of our mouths instead of the gospel. As Jesus said, from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt 12:34).

We can all improve in this area. If you realise that you rarely speak about God or Jesus, check your devotional life, what you read, and what you think about. If you never think about God, you will never speak about God. Don’t start to fix this problem by introducing topics of conversation you never think about; start with meditating on the things of God more often (like Psalm 1 recommends).

Don’t force Jesus into every conversation; that would simply be odd in most settings. But there are easy ways to bring the topic up. Instead of commenting that it is a lovely day, tell other Christians that God has kindly given us another great day to enjoy. Instead of immediately talking about the football or your week at work after the sermon on Sunday, look for something the sermon raised to discuss with others. Ask your children what they think of some Biblical topic. There are opportunities all around us to speak the truth about Jesus, both to Christians and those who are not yet Christians.

Talk about Jesus. If He has saved you and is the Lord of your life, it would be very odd if you never talked about Jesus at all.