Are You Comfortable In Your Own Skin?

A friend just shared with me how he went to a conference on how to share your faith. The speaker gave out a one-page script on what to say when sharing the gospel with another person. My friend used it once or twice but was never comfortable with it.

He went back to the way he used to do it, striking up a conversation and introducing the gospel as the opportunity presented itself.

This is another example of being yourself. You may share Christ with a method totally different than the next person. We all have different personalities. Be yourself. Open your mouth and the Holy Spirit will give you the words.

Oswald Chambers, author of the great devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, gave advice to a young preacher friend. He said the one who reads the Bible only, doesn’t understand the Bible at all. He quickly wrote tout a reading list of 50 books for the young preacher. The list included books on a wide range of subjects, from physics to Philosophy.

What is the point? If you are knowledgeable in many areas, you can strike up a conversation with someone about something they are interested in. Then at some point, when trust is established, perhaps you can share Christ with them.

At one point, Oswald Chambers did just that. While attending a conference, he stayed at a boarding house. There was a young woman staying there who was an agnostic. Over three weeks’ time, Oswald talked with her in many subject areas that she was interested in. At the end of the three weeks, he led her to Christ.

Be yourself.

Be real.

Be who you are.

God made you unique.

Be comfortable in your own skin.

In my journey becoming a writer, I have had the oversight of several professional writers. Almost without exception they think the way they write is the right way to write . . . that everyone should write like them.

So, I grew tired of such narrow thinking. I got to the place where I avoided “professional writers.” There are many writing styles out there in the world. Some authors have drawn a great following because of their unique writing style. Think how boring the world would be if everyone wrote in the same style.

I have developed my own writing style, and I am quite comfortable with it.

Lorraine has her own style. When she writes an article for the newsletter, she draws a different audience than I do. It was my job to edit her first book, The Invitation. Beyond correcting grammar and punctuation, I was careful to leave her writing style intact. Some professional editors, if they were to edit something you wrote, you would not recognize it when they were done with it. Their egos are too big. Please, recognize the creativity of your subject, when you are editing. Don’t massacre it to the point you can’t recognize it anymore.

Another example of being comfortable with who you are is different preaching styles. Two preachers representing the opposite ends of the spectrum would be Charles Spurgeon and Charles Finney. Spurgeon made sermon outlines that were very detailed, with headings and sub-headings, and subs to the sub-headings.

Finney, on the other hand, made no notes at all. Often, when he preached, he had been in prayer until 2 a.m. the night before. He was also saturated with the Word.

He stated that he had to look on his audience. Only then would God give him his sermon text. He also said that for the first 12 years of his ministry, he never wrote anything down.

So you see, here were two preachers who were both tremendously successful. Spurgeon filled his newly built church that seated 5600 when he was 26. By the age of 32, he had trained 18 young pastors, who had all planted churches in the London area.

Through Finney’s preaching, over 100,000 people were converted in the Rochester, New York are alone. It is estimated that about one million came to salvation in Christ through his ministry.

The two preachers could hardly be more opposite.

Praying is another example. What method works for you?

When the Lord launched me into a life of intercessory prayer, I went through a process of finding what worked for me. Sitting in a room, trying to pray, I found myself constantly getting distracted.

My church held a prayer time from six to eight every morning. I found another method that worked better for me. I walked a route from my home each evening starting at nine . . . several blocks to the north and back again. It took me about 50 minutes to walk, so each evening I got in 50 minutes of good prayer time. My pastor said to me, “I don’t care where or how you pray, just so you pray.”

Be comfortable in your own skin.

Find what works for you.

For a period of time, I made much of my living writing broadcast jingles and corporate themes for businesses. I discovered that my sub-conscious mind could write better than my conscious mind. Often the best melodies and lyrics would come while I was doing something else. So, I got a small hand-held cassette recorder and kept it beside me on the seat of the car while I was driving.

Once, I had a large project, and I couldn’t seem to write anything good for it. So, I went to a movie and about two thirds of the way through the movie, sure enough, a good idea came.

That project was for the St. Paul Companies. They liked it so much, they asked for a full orchestra arrangement to play at their national sales meeting in Hawaii.

God made you unique.

There is only one of you.

Be comfortable in your own skin.

Find what works for you. 

Photograph taken by Lorraine