unkaglen:

1) Start at the bottom. Everyone wants to hang with the popular crowd, everyone would like to mingle with their favorite celebrities, but when you show love for the outcast, then you’re in a position to make an impression. Why do you think Jesus chose to eat in the house of Zaccchaeus?

2) Avoid a sinless reputation. First of all, you aren’t perfect, so you’re going to sin and get caught in it, thus having the reputation of a straight-laced goody-two-shoes is really just setting yourself up for a fall. You’re trying to follow Christ, and along the way, you’re having to drop some of these sinful ways by the side of the road to keep following Him. So have an honest reputation: you’re a passionate follower of Christ, but a reluctant defeater of sin.

3) Love sinners. I hear that phrase, “hate the sin, love the sinner”, but it seems like a lot of Christians lump the sinner right in there with their sin when they get their hate going. If you love sinners, you will naturally hate the way that certain sins hurt them. If non-believers know anything about Jesus, it’s that He reserved nearly all his harsh rebukes for judgmental religious types. Thus, if you come off as judgmental, you come off as anything but a real Christian. As Jesus said, “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)

4) Avoid impersonal outreach. Blasting praise and worship music from your car, praying in an obvious way at school, or handing out pamphlets, they can all be a way of being impersonal about your witness. You don’t want to be broadcasting a message of: “hey I’m a Christian, and let me rub your nose in that without talking to you first and getting to know you”. Where you have the option, always go for the personal approach.

5) You’ve got to want it. If you want to be any kind of a witness, (which is, after all, your whole purpose in life), you must be seen as an authentic Christian. Nonetheless, I see a lot of Christian leaders who are happy with a great reputation inside the church and a lousy reputation outside it. But when Paul laid out the requirements for church leaders, he said they “must have a good reputation with outsiders”. (1 Timothy 3:7)

…And remember, if you got off on the wrong foot someone, it’s always an option to humble yourself and admit to those around you that you could have thought through your actions a little better. That attitude alone may help you be a much better witness.

Can you give me a heart that is willing to change, Lord?