“You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.” -Jesus (Mark 16:15 TLB)

Webster’s defines “preach” like this:

Instransitive verb

1 To deliver a sermon

2 To urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action

Transitive verb

1 To set forth in a sermon

2 To advocate earnestly

In my experience most people tend to associate preaching with the first meaning given. It’s something that is done in a church or by a preacher. As a pastor, I find that many people seem to have an aversion to the idea of personally “preaching” to or “evangelizing” others.

Common reasons people often give for not wanting to preach to or evangelize others are usually like:

• They don’t want to come across pushy, insensitive, intolerant, etc.

• They don’t want to offend another with a touchy/personal subject like this.

• They just want their life to speak for itself.

• Or they aren’t that personality type, etc.

I understand being aware of all of these considerations, and rightly so. But the thing that I find funny, ironic, or even inconsistent, is that some of the same people who use those reasons to excuse themselves from obeying Jesus’ command to “preach the good news”, don’t hesitate to “preach” their political views as the “gospel” truth.

Just check your Facebook or Twitter feed, or listen in to a conversation at work or over lunch. Many people (whether politically left or right), don’t hesitate to share their political views strongly and passionately. Many would like to convince others to change their mind about their beliefs, or worst case just get them to admit they are wrong. This type of passionate preaching via social media or even in person seems to occur regardless of personality type, and is definitely not left to “speak for itself”.

Don’t get me wrong, I hope we all do vote today if you haven’t already, but a more important question I’d like to leave you with is, “Are you known more for “preaching” (i.e. earnestly advocating) about your political views or for earnestly advocating the good news about Jesus Christ?”

One of these is based on personal opinion; one is based on historical facts. One relates only to the “here and now”; the other can also effect where a person spends eternity. One was commanded by Jesus to do; the other is encouraged by Scriptures to avoid (2 Timothy 2:24, Proverbs 18:2, 2 Timothy 2:4). One is the gospel truth about life and death; one is not!

Let’s seek to apply any skills, persistence, or courage that we use to promote those other things that we are passionate about (like our political views) to more urgently proclaim the good news about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has declared, “I am coming soon!” (Revelation 22:20)

Preach on,

–Rich