Why You Don’t Need Talent To Share Your Faith

You do not need talent to share your faith. You need the message. That is not a lowered standard, it is the actual instruction the apostle Paul left behind in the last letter he ever wrote, and his charge to a young pastor was short enough to memorize: "Preach the word" (2 Timothy 4:2). If you have ever thought you were not gifted enough, confident enough, or interesting enough to tell someone about Jesus, the qualification you are looking for was never supposed to come from you. It comes from the Word you are carrying. For anyone unfamiliar with the Bible, it is made up of a lot of different books written by a lot of different authors, but it has one real Author, and that is God. This is the Word of God. So when we want to know things about God, when we want to understand what He thinks, what He sees, and what He has commanded us to do, we look at the Scriptures and we line our lives up around them. Why Paul's Final Letter Carries So Much Weight The verse just before the charge sets the tone. Paul writes, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:1). Who is the "I" in that sentence? Paul. He is a man who wrote a large portion of the New Testament, an apostle converted by Jesus, brought into His Kingdom, and then commissioned out from Him to preach the gospel. Here is what makes this so weighty. 2 Timothy was written around AD 64 to 66, likely from a place called the Mamertine Prison, a small holding cell in Rome. The only way in and out was through a hole roughly the size of a manhole cover. You were dropped down into it. When it rained, it flooded. You were never expected to survive in there. You were sent there because you were going to die, either when the powers that be finally remembered you and decided to kill you, or simply because they forgot to feed you enough times. It was not a good place. I have been there. It is terrifying. So this is Paul as an old man, writing what he knows will be his last letter to one of his sons in the faith. He had called Timothy his true son in the faith, and over the years he had sent him out to strengthen churches and preach the gospel. This is the last chapter of the last book of Paul's life, and he knows it. This is what he chooses to say. "I charge you." That is not a suggestion. It gets heavier when he adds that he is giving this charge in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, the One who is to judge the living and the dead. Paul is laying it on thick, and he means to. It is the equivalent of me telling my kids, look, if you do not remember anything else, would you please remember this? Four chapters in, after everything else he has already said, Paul wants Timothy holding on to the presence of God, the judgment of God, and the promise of His appearing while he hears what comes next. What Does "Preach The Word" Mean In 2 Timothy 4:2? Then comes the instruction itself: "Preach the word." That is the whole job. Not build the Word, not improve the Word, not make the Word interesting. Preach it. Paul does not tell Timothy to become compelling. He tells him to deliver a message that is already compelling. Do You Have To Be Qualified To Share Your Faith? Not in the way most people assume. Sharing your faith is not based on your confidence or your competence, and it is not based on your creativity either. If you are thinking you need to be stirred and inspired before you can preach the gospel, you do not. You do not have to bring inspiration to the Word of God, because the Word of God is already inspired. Your job is to bring the message. If you have read this far, you have enough awareness and understanding of the truth of the gospel to share it. You could pass along what you have read here. You are qualified if you know Jesus, because at the end of the day what you are preaching is Him, and He has all the creativity you need. He made the universe. You are fine. You are really fine. Does Sharing Your Faith Require A Big Personality? No. You do not need a bunch of personality or charisma. I can tell you that from experience. I have been in rooms where people ask me, "Are you angry?" No, I am not angry. I am sorry. It is just my face. It is just the way it is, and I am working on it. According to some of the older men I know, I am still young, so I have room to grow. Here is the point. I do not need a great personality to preach the gospel. I need to know Jesus and preach His Word. It really is that simple. What Does Hebrews 4:12 Say About The Power Of God's Word? It says the Word does the work you and I could never do. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Notice what is not in that verse. There is nothing in there about you being able to do any of that. I do not have to divide soul from spirit. I do not have to judge the thoughts and intentions of anyone's heart. The Word does that for me. All I have to do is offer a life that looks like the Word so people take me seriously. If I preached a gospel of fitness, who would listen? Nobody, because I do not look like it. If I preached a gospel of a full head of hair, nobody would listen to that either, because I do not live like it. But if I look like Jesus and I live like Jesus, they will listen. They will still know I am imperfect, because I am human and so are they. If I preach the Word to them, though, the Word does all of that for me. He does it for me. Does God's Word Really Accomplish Anything? Yes, and God says so about His own Word. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11). The rain and the snow are the metaphor. The point underneath them is that God's Word accomplishes God's purposes. It does not come back empty. Where To Go From Here When Jesus met Paul on the road, He sent him into the world with the gospel, knowing it would return to Him with the salvation of souls. The same holds for you. When you are sent into the world, all you have to do is bring the gospel. He takes care of the rest. So you do not need talent to share your faith. You need to know Jesus and carry His message. His Word is enough. His Word is enough.