In a world with a multitude of different viewpoints, especially in regard to religion, getting others to understand your side can be tricky and even sometimes downright impossible.
But we're human, and naturally, we're inclined to tell people what we think in hopes that they'll agree with us.
Believe it or not, this isn't what God commands us to do when it comes to our faith. He doesn't want us to go around telling others who we think God is, how great and magnificent He is, or what our faith in Him looks like.
He wants us to show them.
In fact, Jesus has told us this himself. In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples who they thought He was. Simon Peter replies that Jesus is "Christ, the son of the living God."
Jesus is happy with his answer, saying that Simon Peter knew this not because he was told that fact, but because he experienced it and believed it for himself. Jesus then goes on to tell His disciples not to tell anyone that He is Christ.
At first, this passage seems odd to me, and I'm sure it has confused others, too. But if we really look at what Jesus is saying to us here, it makes sense.
Jesus didn't want His disciples to go around and tell others what they should or should not believe. Instead, Jesus wanted the disciples to spread His love to others, leading them closer to Him by their actions.
Like the disciples, Jesus doesn't want us to be lecturers of His love, either. He wants us to be living examples of it.
God knows that lecturing others on what they should or should not do to be more Christ-like or telling them who God is won't bring them any closer to Him.
Instead, He is telling us that to bring others close to Him, we must embody who He is. We must show others His love through our actions.
I'll be honest: this can be a hard pill to swallow.
It can be tough to act lovingly towards people who disagree with us and leave the revelations up to God. It's so much easier to just tell others what we think and why they should think that way, too. But that's not what He is calling us to do.
If our goal is to bring others closer to God, we must show them who He is by how we act.
