I was a humanist. I believe Christ is good news for humanity and people must know about him. I went to mission fields. Wanted to share Christ yet ended up serving the physical needs of mankind above the urgency of their spiritual needs. The Gospel was barely shared but my schedule was packed with feeding programs, street kids ministry, English teaching, craft and sports night, prison visitation, orphanage, and of course sightseeing while praying for the city and its people. I was busy being a good Christian-moralist and hoping that those I serve will see Christ through what I was doing. I was convinced that my life, my deeds are powerful testimonies to bring people to Christ.
The truth is… I failed to show to those I served the distinction between Christ and other gods. I failed to tell them that good works won’t save us, but Christ only. I have misled many to false Christianity and I can’t stop crying thinking of them and asking God for forgiveness.
We are familiar with the cliché: “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary” that has been wrongly attributed to Francis of Assisi. This cliché probably summarizes our unwillingness to verbally preach the Gospel today, not because the “deeds” proclamation works best but because we are afraid of hurting anyone’s feelings with the truth that we are sinners and deserve hell. We are afraid of offending people and we justify our cowardliness by quoting such clichés.
God is sovereign over all, and I believe that those who genuinely believe in Christ will be rescued from falsehood. And I am here to remind everyone not to fall into the same pit as I did because I know there are many people –including my fellow missionaries– who still think that evangelizing others by “deeds” proclamation and social works is enough. It is not. Don’t mislead others!
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
