“You might be the only Jesus that some people ever see”. Undoubtedly, you have heard that phrase. It is supposed to motivate us to holiness—especially around unbelievers. And it’s a decent statement. But, have you ever totally blown it around an unbeliever? If you are the only Jesus they will ever see then their view of Him is going to be pretty shallow. Perhaps, you said something stupid. Maybe it was something that you did that Jesus would probably not have done. Is your witness totally blown at this point?

It is my opinion that evangelicals have bought into the myth that a follower of Jesus has to be perfectly like Jesus in order to be an effective witness. This is not to say that holiness is not important. This is not to deny that we are to adorn the gospel with our lives. But if the gospel requires perfect examples of Jesus then nobody is going to come to embrace the God of the gospel.

One of the consequences of this myth is that discouraged believers struggle with personal evangelism. Because they are very aware of their sinfulness and because they assume they will “blow it” by their lives they are timid in sharing the gospel. I understand that often this is an excuse for not engaging unbelievers, but nonetheless, such a fear is present. Alongside this are believers that shamefully stop engaging an unbeliever with the gospel once you’ve “blown it”.

Perhaps the biggest consequence is that in order to be perfect examples of Jesus we fake it. We are often surface and inauthentic as we engage unbelievers. We do this because to really be authentic would be to show our brokenness. And because the gospel that is often shared is “Jesus will fix your life” we make a really poor example of an “abundant life”. So we fake it; and that is perhaps the most ineffective witness that we can have.

Here is the point: the most effective witness might be to believe the gospel enough to ask for forgiveness. If you blow it then perhaps the best way you can proclaim Jesus is by modeling repentance and believing in the power of Jesus enough to be authentic. So, if you blow your witness (and you will) then show Jesus by being humble enough to admit that you are wrong, don’t stop modeling the gospel.

Tim Challies tries to answer whether or not our forgiveness is unconditional. Challies takes this position: "We are to model God’s forgiveness; God forgives conditionally; there we are to forgive conditionally."

The Irish Calvinst shares with us a wonderful quote, "You should be ready to preach, pray, or die in 5 minutes".

It may be a little too polemic for my taste, but Steve Camp has a good article (as well as wonderful questions) concerning faith and politics.

Sovereign Grace Ministries is hosting a Pastors College preaching conference. One brave soul asked about discouragement. You can read the response of C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, and Mike Bullmore, here.

There are numerous stories off the press concerning the recent news of Dr. Mohler. First of all, Dr. Mohler has a pre-cancerous tumor on his colon. Secondly, this means that he will not seek nomination for the SBC Presidency. Since it seems to me that Founders broke the story, they get the link.

Michael McKinley says that pastors should feed their sheep. "It seems to me that pastors are shepherds: if there's malnutrition in the flock it may or may not be our fault, but it is most definitely our problem." Thabiti responds.

Is God a God of second chances? Dan Phillips says, sometimes.

Tony Reinke continues his series on Engagle Culture with the Supremacy of God. We are treated to part 2 today.

2 Worlds Collide offers us the current list of the Top 10 Persecuted Nations.

David, of the Thirsty Theologian, begins his series answering why he is a Calvinist.

These all deserve an (HT:JT). The Washington Post profiles Eric Redmond. Michael Patton maps the emergent conversation.