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When it comes to sharing God's love, Christians can often be their own worst enemies. The reason is we're sometimes poor representatives of the Lord. Far too often, people don't reject us because of the gospel; they reject us because of the poor way we live our lives or because we present the Good News in a bad way.

Maybe this New Year we can resolve to something a bit different than the typical weight-loss regimen. Perhaps we can commit to praying about the one thing in our lives that might keep us from sharing God's love. Only you know what that might be, but to help you in your prayers, here are three typical roadblocks most Christians experience when sharing God's love.

The first roadblock is that we don't have a burden for the lost. We could talk all night about the right way to share the gospel, but all of that is useless if we are missing the essential of having a burden for the lost. If you want to know what a burden for the lost is like, simply look to Jesus. In Matthew 9:36, Jesus saw the lost crowds and was moved with such compassion that He told His disciples to pray for more workers to preach the gospel. Jesus' burden for the crowds resulted in sharing the gospel. That is the type of burden we need today.

Closely related to a burden for the lost is being spiritually aware. We get so caught up in getting in and out of the grocery store, the mall, or even work, that we rarely take the time to become spiritually aware of the people around us. If we take the time to listen, the Holy Spirit will let us know when the time is right to share the gospel. And when the opportunity arises, we need to be “ready in season and out of season” to share God's love (2 Timothy 2:4b nkjv).

Tact is the third roadblock to sharing God's love. The word tact has been defined as the intuitive knowledge of saying the right thing at the right time. It's being sensitive and having the skill and grace to deal with others. Unfortunately, when sharing God's love, some Christians are more annoying or rude than they are tactful. We need to pray that when we share the truth of the gospel, we share it lovingly and tactfully.

Whether or not you have ever struggled with these three roadblocks, you have undoubtedly hit some type of roadblock in your desire to share God's love. It could be a fear of rejection, a lack of knowledge, or the fear that you might offend someone. Whatever your roadblock might be, Harvest Ministries wants to encourage you to pray for a life that is free to share God's love in your daily life.