While walking down the street one cool afternoon, I noticed a young man sitting on the corner. He seemed to be in deep thought and very sad. I felt an overwhelming sensation to approach him and tell him the Story. As I slowly made my way over to him, my palms began to feel sweaty and my heart started to race. A million thoughts began to rush through my mind all at once: What if he yells at me or swears at me? What if he hits me? Or what if I want to hit him? It felt like a dream. As I approached him my tongue froze. I quietly walked past him without uttering a word—not even a hello. I desperately fought the urge to look back, thinking he was staring directly at me.

You may be wondering, “Okay, Harvey, what ‘story’ were you going to tell?” It was the story of the hope and life we have in Jesus, the Good News, the gospel. But why did I walk on past this fellow? Why is it so hard to talk freely about Jesus?

It amazes me how easily we can talk about other things. We can talk about Michael Jordan, a famous basketball player, with a complete stranger—how many points he scored and what moves he made. Now I really don’t know Michael Jordan and I doubt you do either, yet we talk about him as if we’ve just played eighteen holes of golf with him.

If we talk so freely about a famous athlete whom we don’t know, why is it so hard to talk about our Lord and Savior whom we know so well? Our mouths are silent, even when we are bursting with so much truth. When I walked down Lancaster Avenue that afternoon, I missed an opportunity to share the greatest story ever.

One of the biggest reasons I have such a hard time is that I give myself more credit than I should. I often assume that it’s my human effort that changes lives. I’m afraid of rejection because I think that if people reject my efforts, then they’re rejecting me, and I’ve failed.

Hold on. Wasn’t it the apostle Paul who said to put no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3)? And didn’t he also say that salvation does not depend on our desire or effort, but on God’s mercy (Romans 9:16)? People are changed not by our efforts, but rather by God’s grace working through our obedience.

So what does this obedience look like? One summer night I woke up about two o’clock in the morning with a huge desire for ice cream. So I got out of bed, put on my clothes and drove to the nearest grocery store. After buying some ice cream I started to head back to my car and noticed five men talking to each other outside the store. I then began to hear this still, small voice say, “Harvey, talk to these guys. Maybe you can tell them the Story.” God was tugging at my heart to talk to them about Jesus, but I tried to fight it. I began to give excuses to God: “Hey, my ice cream will melt!” and “Look, it’s two o’clock in the morning. We should all be in bed!”

While driving slowly down the road, my car began to jerk back and forth as my foot went from brake pedal to gas pedal and back again, and I felt my heart jerking back and forth as I wrestled with the prompting I had felt. Finally, I turned around and drove back to the grocery store, wondering what I would say to these men. When I stepped out of the car and tried to walk calmly toward them, they stopped their conversation. Every eye was fixed on me. Without any introduction, I simply asked them if they’d ever heard about the story of Jesus. To my surprise they all said no. I took a deep breath to get over the nervous and awkward feeling. I began to tell them the story of Jesus’ life, his death on a cross and his resurrection from the dead. I shared John 3:17 that says, “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it through his son.” Unexpectedly, one of the men asked me how he could be saved and the rest joined in. I simply told them to believe that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead for their justification (Romans 4:25). Then we all joined hands and I led them in a prayer. They repented of their sins and asked Jesus to come into their hearts and save them.

After they received Jesus, that feeling of awkwardness turned into celebration as they rejoiced over their new relationship with the Lord. We exchanged phone numbers, and I gave them some information about churches. Then I returned home. I sat down and began to eat my melted ice cream with great joy, because no ice cream in the world could compare to the joy I felt seeing these five new believers!

I was totally amazed and somewhat humbled at how God could use me despite my selfish excuses. In spite of my reluctance, God still used my obedience to bring him glory. God desires our obedience, not our fleshly efforts. This is why the Scripture says, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). God doesn’t want our meager fleshly efforts, but rather a heart that will respond to his voice when he is ready to act.

As someone involved in campus ministry, I’m constantly learning how to feel free to share Christ. There are three things that I have discovered that will help us tell the story more freely: relationship, love and the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a look at each.

Radical RELATIONSHIP

During my college years, I had a variety of dating relationships. There were those frustratingly superficial relationships where I couldn’t wait to get alone just to be by myself after the date. There were the long-distance relationships, where being thousands of miles away was just too hard and too expensive. And of course I experienced the insecure relationship, where I would think that she was mad at me or didn’t want to be with me for some reason I could never quite fathom.

Your relationship with Jesus could fall into those same patterns. Is your relationship with the Lord superficial to the point that you can’t wait to leave church or prayer meetings to take off your Christian mask? Or is it one of those long-distance relationships where you talk with the Lord only once every two weeks? Or is it an insecure relationship, where you think God is mad at you or that he merely pretends he really likes you?

Sad to say, I have experienced all of these in my spiritual walk with the Lord at one time or another. But Jesus desires to have a loving, intimate and unending relationship with us, not the temporary dating thing that I experienced in my college years. We are not merely dating Jesus, but rather we are married to him eternally.

My wife and I recall a humorous event that occurred on our wedding day. As I made my way down the aisle past the large congregation and onto the stage, I was struck by how beautiful everything looked! The piano player was playing a soft melody that gave a peaceful feel to the atmosphere.

Then it happened. Out of nowhere two furry little creatures came scurrying across the stage. They both made a quick dash toward the piano player’s feet, causing her to play some of the worst notes I’ve ever heard. She let out a loud gasp that seemed to harmonize with the bad notes. Then the critters headed toward the congregation. As they blazed by a row of people sitting in the second pew, all the people jumped up one at a time. It looked as if they were doing the wave at a Kentucky basketball game during the third quarter! There were shouts, screams and people trying to hover in mid air. I’ve seen different moves of the Spirit, but this was definitely not one of them. It was caused by two very friendly chipmunks that somehow made their way into the church when a door was left open the day before.

After the people regained their composure and the chipmunks fled the building, it was time for the bride to make her entrance. Not knowing anything that had happened, my wife-to-be made her way down the aisle with her father by her side. Her beauty captivated me. All my distractions began to fade as I took my bride by the hand and led her to my side. And when we looked into each other’s eyes, I knew that the love, bond and commitment would be forever.

Jesus is your groom who reaches out his hand and leads you to his side. And when you fix your eyes on him, the crazy distractions will fade, and the love you share will come into focus. The daily reality and the conscious experience of my relationship with Jesus give me the freedom to tell others about him. I always love to talk about my wife because she is a vital part of my life. In the same way, Jesus can be woven into the fabric of our conversations because he’s not just a part of our lives, but the very center of it. It is the relationship that compels me to talk about him, not because I have to, but because I love to.

Knowing GOD’S LOVE

The second key to finding freedom to tell the story is God’s love. A few years ago I decided to do some open-air evangelism on campus with a friend, David, who was an InterVarsity staff worker at the time. After much prayer we decided to do some preaching in the free speech area on the campus. I was nervous, but felt confirmation that this was what God wanted. On a cloudy Monday morning I met him there and to my surprise there were several students there also. David had made some calls the night before to tell folks to come out and support us in prayer.

So we all joined hands and began to pray for God’s will to be done. As students began to offer up prayers to God, other students joined us. At least thirty students ended up gathering together that morning to pray. I started to feel more confident. It was like being in the huddle of a basketball team, motivating each other before a big game. I was ready to tell the world about Jesus.

As I climbed onto a concrete table that elevated me above the crowd, I noticed the clouds fading away, allowing the sun to make its grand appearance. I looked at the slim crowd waiting in anticipation for what I was going to say. Others walked by with books in hand, giving me a quick glance as they moved on. Things seemed normal during that moment—people talking with each other, some reading books quietly to themselves and others just enjoying the sun’s rays. But when I opened my mouth to speak, everything changed. All attention was focused on me.

As I began to talk, I noticed the unusual loudness of my voice and how far it carried. I thought, Whoa, Harvey, are you really doing this? Many more people started to gather around and listen to what I was saying. I began to share with them about the love of Jesus and how in his great love he bore our own sins upon himself. I said, “God is not out to condemn you and tell you that he hates you, but he desires to save you and tell you that he loves you.”

As I continued, I noticed a young student who joined in heckling and laughing with the small group of people she was with. They pointed at me and made gestures as if to distract me. Her preppy look stood in contrast to the all-black attire her friends wore. For some strange reason I focused right on her. She became my only audience as I continued to talk about the love of Jesus.

Then something powerful happened. Her laughter stopped and her face contorted in confusion. Tears slowly began to stream down her face, and she started to walk toward me. Her friends looked as puzzled as I felt. They called out to her, “Hey, come back. What are you doing?” Her tears were followed with loud sobs as she sped up her pace in my direction.

As I stepped down from the table, the crowd stepped back and parted. When the young woman reached me, she just stood there and wept uncontrollably. Without any words or even much thought, I stretched out my arms toward her. She crumpled into my arms and continued to weep. As her tears continued to flow and my arms surrounded her, I couldn’t help but feel God’s arms surrounding the two of us. In that moment I began to feel the overwhelming sense of God’s love—for both of us.

She looked up at me with tears and said, “I was laughing at you because I thought you were one of those people that was going to preach at me and tell me what a bad person I am. Then you began to talk about love and Jesus.” She hesitated and then went on, “I’ve been involved in a homosexual lifestyle and I want to change. Can Jesus love me, too?”

As God’s love flooded my heart, the only thing that I could say was, “Child, Jesus loves you so much. So much.” She prayed and asked Jesus into her heart that day. Many of the Christian students that were there cheered for her, encouraged her and prayed for her as she found her new life in Christ. Many more people came to the Lord that day as hundreds of people gathered.

Words cannot describe what I felt that day, but one thought kept pounding me: Why do we swim around in the shallow pools of God’s love when he beckons us into its depths? It’s in the depths that we find compassion for people who are lost and hungry for love. When we understand the width, depth and height of God’s love, we can see through the window of compassion straight into a person’s heart. Mark 6:34 says that Jesus was moved with compassion because the people were like sheep without a shepherd. Does your heart break for the lost sheep of this world? Are you motivated to tell the story out of a compassionate heart? In Christ, you are also a shepherd to the people around you—including non-believers. The more we have God’s heart, the more we will delight to tell people about Jesus.

Freed by THE HOLY SPIRIT

In addition to relationship and love, we also have the Spirit to free us to tell the story. In Luke 4:18 Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” God’s Spirit empowered Jesus and anointed him to preach the Good News. It is the Spirit who gives us the freedom and power to tell the story too. The Holy Spirit makes the gospel alive to us and to others. The Spirit gently speaks to our hearts and guides us to the opportunities that he has already set up.

In Acts 8:29, the Spirit directs Philip to go out into the desert and then to run up next to a moving chariot and stay near it. Riding in that chariot was an Ethiopian official who “just happened” to be reading the prophet Isaiah and who was full of unanswered questions. Philip notices him reading and essentially asks, “So, do you understand what you’re reading there?” Through the next several verses, we see God using Philip to explain to the Ethiopian how Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. The man can’t wait to repent and be baptized—all because Philip responded promptly and without question to the urging of the Spirit.

One day I was walking with a friend. We were taking a little break from an intense InterVarsity conference in Pasadena. We decided to go outside and walk around the hotel where we were staying. As we laughed and joked with one another, we passed by three men standing together. There was nothing that they did or said that drew our attention. We continued to walk right past them. Then I heard this still, small—and now familiar—voice speaking to my heart: “Go and talk with the man sitting in the middle of the three.” I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re thinking, “Wait a minute, Harvey, God has never spoken to me like that.” God speaks to us in many different ways, and it may sound unusual, but this was how he chose to speak to me at that time.

I turned back, my friend following close behind. I went directly to the young man sitting in between the others. As my friend and I began to make conversation with him, the other two men said they had to get back to work and left. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I simply asked the guy in the middle if he had a personal relationship with Jesus. He said, “No, but I’ve been thinking about God and life a lot lately.” Then, with tears filling his eyes and in a weak voice he said, “All during this week I’ve been thinking about ending my life because of how bad things have been. I told God that if he was real, he needed to give me some hope.” We told him about the hope he could have in Jesus, a hope that wouldn’t disappoint or fade away. After sharing the Good News with him, we all prayed, and he received Christ as his Savior. We connected him with a local pastor in that area and introduced him to some of the I-V staff in the community as well.

I wish I could say that I always listen to God’s voice, but I can’t. Because of my own busy agenda, there have been more cases of my not listening to his voice than actually obeying it. But I deeply desire to hear the voice of God’s Spirit, and I know it only comes through fellowship and communion with him. Are you taking the time to listen to God in the many ways that he chooses to speak? Are you experiencing fellowship and communion with his Spirit?

I would love to tell you that when God urges me toward someone, I always go and always speak freely about Jesus. But that’s not the truth. The truth is I’m growing in my relationship with God. I’m growing in the depth of God’s love for me and my love for others. I’m learning to listen to the Holy Spirit and trust that he will give me the power I need to speak boldly about Jesus. I’m beginning to experience the freedom and the joy of sharing Jesus with others.

When you see that person sitting alone whom God may be prompting you to talk with, what will you do? I hope you will open your mouth and talk about the one you know and love.

Feel free to tell the Story.