Dear Salt&Light,

My life is relatively smooth-sailing. Work is easy and I get to go home on time, I’ve never been in situations where my ethics is compromised,  I have good relations with my colleagues, and I can even be open about my faith with them. I am not sure whether I am “denying myself and taking up the Cross”, as Jesus called us to do in Matthew 16:24. How do I know whether I am following God’s call or not?

John P, 33, publishing editor 

I first of all would like to thank God for the wonderful blessings that you have received and also your willingness to take up your Cross to follow Jesus. (Matthew 16:24) 

On one level, we are all called by God to play our unique role to take part in the advancement of His Kingdom in the world.

Martin Luther famously rebuked the misconception of dividing vocations between holy and secular.

All Christians are invited to participate in God’s grand project to build His Kingdom on earth through loving and serving our neighbours with our gifts and talents. However, that is not the full picture of the calling we have from Jesus.

It is remarkable when we reflect on the meaning of taking up our Cross to be a follower of Jesus.

In the time of Jesus, taking up a Cross meant you are literally carrying the Cross to the place you are going to be executed while being mocked and scorned by the crowd.

Why did Jesus choose this image to describe what it means to be a Christian?

Perhaps the answer lies within the life of the Apostles who were the earliest disciples of Christ. They were following Jesus faithfully and some were even literally crucified.

The reason they were persecuted was not necessarily because they were flourishing as fishermen or tentmakers and serving their neighbours with the love of Christ.

It was because they shared the Gospel that Jesus died and rose for all of us.

They were being faithful to the last commandment of Jesus: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

Ultimately, their evangelism proved to be their Cross.

Accordingly, all Christians should be challenged with this question: Are you sharing the Gospel with people at every appropriate opportunity?

It is common for us to make excuses to shy away from being active in sharing the Gospel.

One of them that I often hear is this: “I am not spiritually gifted in evangelism at all. I will tell my friends that I am a Christian and do my best to show God’s love and hopefully one day they will be interested in Christianity.”

However, evangelism is not something just for “holy” and “professional” ministers but we are all called to be evangelists.

It is true that God seems to give extra measure of the spiritual gift of evangelism to some who are called to be involved in it on a full-time basis (Ephesians 4:11) but not all of us have to be like the apostle Paul or Billy Graham.

It may be that some are gifted with greater abilities in evangelism, but we are all called to evangelism.

The only choice we have is to be a committed evangelist or an uncommitted evangelist and the encouraging thing is that the Holy Spirit who lives in us will teach us what to say (Luke 12:12).

Of course, there are times when we have to discern whether we should vocally share the Gospel with our friends or family because we need to be sensitive to the season of their life.

Sometimes they need you to just be with them and encourage them when they go through a season of suffering and pain. However, we always have to ask ourselves how intentional we are in this process.

Are you praying and earnestly preparing for the divine moment to share the Word of God that would give them true love and peace?

Or are you totally counting on them to come to you?

When you start committing yourself to this call of evangelism, there will be times of disappointment or even agony. You might feel the weight of the Cross on your shoulders.

However, the encouraging truth is that God is with you from the beginning to the end and the impact of your service is immeasurable. The work we can do on earth is temporary and limited but when you play your part in saving a soul for God, the outcome is eternal.

What a pleasure and privilege it would be to see someone in heaven whom you shared the Gospel with!

Personal evangelism is one of the greatest markers that highlight a life lovingly submitted to God’s call.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15).

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