There is a common myth that I think many people have about sharing their faith. It is something along the lines of “I need to know everything about God or have it all together before I can share with anyone else about following Christ.”

But that is simply not true.

We are all called to live “missional” lives whether that means treating others kindly in your place of work, or sharing a piece of hopeful advice with another mom waiting outside the preschool classroom. In fact, in these moments we draw closer to Christ.

Paul wrote a letter to his friend Philemon. The letter detailed a plea for Philemon to accept back his runaway slave, who was now a Christ-follower.  There are many great concepts in this short letter, but verse 6 jumped off the page at me this morning as I was reading it:

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

This verse is such evidence that we don’t have to have our act together to be a part of God’s story on earth. We each have a part to play and as we begin to share the hope we have, than we begin to know more about Christ. The more we are “doing” in actively living out our faith, the more we are “growing” in knowing all that we have in our relationship with Him.

This is backwards from the idea that we have to be “holy”, “perfect”, and “have it all together” before we can share the difference Christ makes.

I will tell you something. As a missionary by profession, I do not have it all together! I struggle with bad attitudes, negativity, and cynicism on a daily basis! I just happen to struggle with them in a cross-cultural context! But I know that as I am working that out, struggling through it, and continuing to share with the world the hope of Christ, I am growing to a fuller understanding of every good thing I have because I know Him.

I am learning things like how much I need His grace because I sin daily…like how I struggle to love my fellow man (or husband, or child) sometimes, but He is the source of perfect love…like how I don’t have to do things on my own because He is the one who is working through me. There is a full life to be lived, one that is revealed more clearly as I am actively sharing my faith.

So what about you? Do you have a full understand of all the goodness Christ has for you? Well, neither do I…but I’m going to get out there and share my faith in search of knowing Him more.