In the world we live in, there can be tears in the midst of joy (Proverbs 14:13). As Christians, many if not most of us have felt the bittersweetness of enjoying great laughs with some of the people we love the most and yet know they don’t yet treasure Christ. What’s more, we feel burdened that we have not shared the good news of Jesus with them.
Sharing the Gospel During Thanksgiving
As the Thanksgiving holiday quickly comes in, here are three short encouragements for us to witness to our family members.
Share Your Weakness
This might sound counterproductive, but it’s perfectly fitting for the King above all who was born in a manger, and who lived in a small town that wouldn’t even receive him.
Christ’s light shines through broken people that admit their failings and their need for him.
Your family knows you—there’s no need to pretend that you have it all figured out. If you haven’t been the perfect son, if you have missed out on a couple of birthdays, if your grades haven’t been what they should, if your kids are not well behaved, or if you have sinned against them in the recent past, admit it. Christ’s light shines through broken people that admit their failings and their need for him. It will be refreshing to your family, particularly in today’s western culture that embraces brokenness as something that’s perfectly fine, to say “I have made mistakes. Christ is changing me. I’m trying to grow in his image, and he forgives me as I pray you also forgive me.”
Feel free to join Paul: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” And there’s a purpose for that: “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:15–16).
Show Your Gratitude
The Holy Spirit teaches that all men are trying to feel their way toward God and find him (Acts 17:27). One very particular way in which we all try to do this is by giving thanks—it’s the ultimate recognition that we are not God, that we need something else, someone else, to help and guide us. G.K. Chesterton captured this well: “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”
We have been given a glorious opportunity to demonstrate our dependency in God by giving thanks, publicly, regularly, and profusely. We can start by giving thanks to our family members for the different ways in which they have served us through the years and in this particular year. And we tend to assume people know how thankful they are, but that’s a wrong presumption. Let’s be abundant in our thanksgiving to those around us—we all need to be encouraged.
And as we give thanks to our family, let’s make sure we’re being loud in our thanksgiving to God, in front of others. Like Daniel (Daniel 6:10), let’s make it clear to those around us in praise and thanksgiving that we love and treasure our gracious God, as a testimony to his works and character.
Speak With Confidence
When it’s all said and the turkey’s done, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). You want to be winsome, you want to honor your family, you want to respect the family dynamics… but you need to share the gospel with boldness. Salvation is a miracle. We believe in a crucified Savior that rose from the dead. A holy and just God that loves and seeks sinners.
Probably the most important thing you can be doing to prepare the next few days is just to think of your unbelieving family members and start praying for them by name, asking the Lord for their salvation, and asking Christ to empower you by his Spirit to speak the truth in love once you’re together. If you have other family members with you that are also Christians, maybe you can start praying together as well. And then, one or two of you can just boldly proclaim the crucified and risen Christ, confident that he will save some.
And, you know what? He will. Because he already has. You were also lost, too, and know here you are, thinking about how to share Christ with your family. Who knows, maybe next year someone in your family will be looking for ways to share Christ in their own ways.
Lord, make it so.
Jairo Namnún is the pastor at Cornerstone Church in Santo Domingo, and the Senior Content Strategist for Radical. He is married to Paty and they have 3 children.
