For the last 10 days I have been receiving heartbreaking news from friends, family, and coworkers. It has felt emotionally breaking, mostly because I (the girl that wants to fix things) cannot change any of the circumstances, they all NEED God. And half of the individuals in need of Him don’t know Him. Some of the circumstances have made me feel uncomfortable – spiritually that is.

How do you present God to people who do not accept Him? People who have known you for years and have known of your faith, how do you break that silent wall that has been up in the area of religion? Do you respect the person’s beliefs or do you push through and offer them a chance to encounter God in their brokenness? Do you become “that person”? You know, the one that “is obvious about God”, or dare I say “puts their faith in your face”? We avoid being that person; we tiptoe. Us Christians that is. We tiptoe around others because we don’t want to be called pushy. Because we don’t want to put you off of wanting God. We don’t want to offend you, so we water our faith down around you. But when it comes to life and death, why do we even question if we should choose life or offense (death)? You obviously choose life. YOU SO OBVIOUSLY CHOOSE LIFE.

In hospitals, when you have to choose between saving someone’s life or respecting a spiritual belief, you choose life unless the individual/secondary decision maker proves the person is aware of the consequences of declining life saving medical intervention. Why do we approach non-emergency room situations any different? Why do I sit on my couch bawling and praying for those I have known for years, yet question if I should present them Jesus? Why do I question if I should be so bold as to potentially offend them with “my religion” during their most difficult hour? Why is it even a question?

Really the answer is that it is because my focus is me, and the other person, and not Jesus. Because if my focus was Jesus I would not care to offend in presenting someone with the opportunity to have heavenly peace as they sit in medical offices. I would not decline them the opportunity of supernatural healing or to have a freeing access to a Heavenly Father that will carry all of their fears, anguish, and prayers. I would not decline them the opportunity to not feel alone as they hear doctors talk about life defining procedures, and I would show them how they, too, can trust in God’s plan when we cannot see what the future holds. That they too can trust that He will not allow them to be robbed of life before their time. Did you hear that? That you would not be robbed of life, because that is how the devil works: he comes to steal, kill, and destroy – he is untimely death (John 10:10).

So I am going to do it. I am going to offend you. I recently made the choice to stop watering down my faith for the sake of preventing offense, and it starts with reaching out to my God-needing community in their most dire time. If you have been questioning yourself, let this be the fire that ignites the courage in you – Go show them Jesus. Worry about being His hand’s and feet on this earth, not to bout being politically correct in an era were even air has the potential to offend a society. Go be that person. Yes, THAT person- the one that shows them Jesus, the one that is upfront about their faith and values. Be the person that puts religion in front of people’s face, not with condemnation, but because when they look at your face they see Him staring back.