Simon Cox Blog: How to Respond When People Say ‘No’ to Jesus (Part 1)

Thursday, 22 December 2016

How to Respond When People Say ‘No’ to Jesus (Part 1)

InterVarsity evangelist offers words of encouragement

Getting up the nerve to share Jesus with others around us takes all the courage we can muster. We pray and ask God for wisdom, we review what we’ll say in our minds and perhaps a few Bible verses, and with palpitations in our chest, we begin to share Jesus.

For many Christians, it is the hardest thing they do. Sharing Jesus with others puts us at both God’s mercy as well as the mercy of those with whom we share. One of the most challenging things in this exercise of faith often comes when the person we are sharing with rejects the good news.

A ‘no’ to Jesus can feel like a failure to us; it can call into question whether or not God is with us, leading us, empowering us as we share Jesus. Additionally, for Christians, it is hard to imagine how people could say ‘no’ to such a great message and promise of forgiveness, love, and new life. What we do with a ‘no’ to Jesus is perhaps the most important exercise of faith in our witness.

Here are some words of encouragement and guidance on how to respond when people say no to Jesus.

#1. Realize Your Role

Jesus sends us out as His witnesses to faithfully and powerfully proclaim Him. He does not promise positive results. In fact, rejection ought to be expected as a normal part of faithful witness. We are successful in evangelism if we proclaim lovingly and truthfully the gospel.

Success in evangelism isn’t counted by people’s response. A ‘no’ or a ‘yes’ is not under our control. To be sure, we can learn to do a better job—to be more prophetic, more pastoral, more accurate, more persuasive, but in the end a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is under the control of the person hearing.

Our job is to ...