According to a news item I heard today, only around 30% of Christians plan to invited a friend to Easter services this year.  That statistic may or may not be exact, but I suspect it is close.

Why have we bought into the lie that our religious beliefs are private?  Why have we bought into the lie that people don’t need or want Christ?  Why have we bought into the lie that we are better being ‘nice’ and making sure we don’t offend anyone then telling people the honest, loving truth?

Here is truth:  Jesus is the only way to the Father.  He is the only way to heaven.  He is the only way to salvation.  He is the only way to a rebuilt relationship with God.  Without Jesus, no matter how good they may seem, our friends are going to a real, actual hell after they die.  It will be horrible.

Here is some truth: our belief and faith are personal, but not private.  We worship in public.  God is the God of all creation.  God is the God of all nations and peoples whether they believe in Him or not.  Christianity at its heart is public and group oriented.  We are called to witness to the world and we are called to one  body of believers.

Here is some truth:  truth hurts sometimes.  Some people were offended by what Jesus said and did – that’s why they killed Him.  We should not purposefully offend people, but our job is to loving share the truth.  If some people get offended, they have a problem.  We should count ourselves lucky to be like Christ.

A celebration of Jesus’ resurrection (Easter) should be one of the biggest events of our lives; His resurrection was the biggest event of history.  It should be natural to invite our friends who don’t follow Christ to come and meet Him.  It is the loving thing to do.

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