I’m banking on the fact that at the end of time, when I stand face to face before Christ my Savior, one of the first questions I ask Him (after I inquire as to why every shopping cart seems to have one wheel that just decides to screw over the other three wheels and do its own thing) is why sharing the Gospel was made to be painfully uncomfortable.

The magnitude of evangelization has everything to do with how far we fall short of the example we represent. Our immaculate, all-perfect, all-loving Savior asked us to share His message with the world. He asked us - us, the non-immaculate, imperfect, sorry excuses for selfless love - to emulate love. Maybe it’s time we gauge the world's reaction to Christ’s actions before we attempt to further His purpose with our words. Because more often than not, the distribution of the Gospel is downright awkward.

We’re talking accidentally spitting into your friend’s face during a conversation awkward.

There’s nothing better than wiping someone’s saliva off of your face before attempting to continue a conversation like the projectile never existed. Christ didn’t have that luxury. “Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him” -Matthew 26:67. Awkward.

We’re talking waving to someone who doesn’t wave back awkward.

The biblical equivalent? Returning to your hometown, only to discover that they cannot accept you for what you’ve become. “And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them” -Mark 6:5. Awkward.

We’re talking a quiet room and your stomach decides to initiate the mating call of its people awkward.

“And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward starving” -Matthew 4:2. Deprived of sustenance for longer than a month, the most evil entity ever to exist decides to tempt him repeatedly with the promise of actual nutrition. Awkward.

We’re talking pushing on a door labeled “Pull” awkward.

So often during our attempts to spread the Gospel, there does not exist a more apt metaphor for the fruits of our efforts. It feels like we’re pushing on a door labeled “Pull”. “Jesus said to them, 'With man, it is impossible. But with God, everything is possible’” -Matthew 19:26. If the words you speak come from the place in your heart where Christ dwells, to call anything a failure is to disregard that His ways infinitely supersede our own. Awkward.

We’re talking Speedos awkward.

You’re in the wrong business if you’re concerned about your image. The living manifestation of the definition of not caring is dying naked on a cross. “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first” - John 15:18. The same God who was hated to death by the world promised the same reaction to those who followed Him. Before things get messy, decide that your dedication to this team runs deeper than the uniform. Awkward.

We’re talking singing your heart out when the music stops awkward.

The world is an iPod with an epileptic Pause button. It plays just long enough for you to catch the rhythm before it changes, before it stops, before that song you love is overplayed and outdated. It can’t satisfy. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” -Matthew 6:24. Awkward.

We’re talking attempting to carry on a conversation with a dental hygienist while she has both hands in your mouth awkward.

That which comes out of your mouth is ultimately more of a concern than the hands which clean it. When you evangelize, you flirt with eternity! You’re dealing literally with the distribution of a message of pure love, a message that carries with it the capacity to provide eternal life. For this reason, Christ drops the mic on the Pharisees when they question His divinity. “How can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” -Matthew 12:34. To undervalue that pursuit is to undervalue that which Christ died for, and that which we live for. Awkward.

We’re talking tripping up a flight of stairs awkward.

Because we’re broken. We’re so broken. We are nothing more than broken witnesses to an unbroken path. And we are nothing less than loved by the God who paved it.

This is to be your life’s work. You’re lying to yourself if you think for a second that someone’s life’s work is supposed to be a walk in the park. A man’s life’s work is supposed to carry with it merit! You don’t get merit without resistance.

So make it awkward.

Make it introducing your significant other to your parents by the wrong name awkward. Make it any conversation with your grandparents about why you’re still single awkward. Make it first date allergic reactions awkward. Make it the fact that Jersey Shore somehow had six seasons awkward.

Evangelization isn’t fitting Tab A into Slot B. It’s messy, and dangerous, and painful. It’s the immersive, transformative-edged wonder of an opportunity embodied by Christ, from the crib to the cross. Sharing the Gospel is uncomfortable because when we evangelize, we become imperfection marketing perfection. We become selfishness advocating for selflessness. We become brokenness advocating for unity. We become anger advocating for love.

Get messy. Get dirty. Dig your hands into the filth of temporary secularism, and embrace the awkward. Don’t fear the inconvenient. Fear the comfortable.

At the end of the day, we’re talking sharing the Gospel awkward.

awkward [\ˈȯ-kwərd\] adj. - see crucifixion.