Finding Hope

Being openly Christian

Hello all! I hope you're having a great day :)

Today I thought I'd touch on the topic of not being ashamed of faith, and also publicly practicing Christianity. I'm gonna go about this topic by topic and put my experience on it.

Being open about your faith
This one can be hard, admittedly. As I was first getting involved in Christianity I would get tense in any situation where someone would ask me about my faith/bring up religion in general. There's a lot of verses on this topic but it is Biblical to be open on your faith, and definitely don't be ashamed of it. Don't force it on people, but also don't be shy to tell someone about your faith.

Evangelizing/preaching
I have never personally gone to a large public gathering and preached before, but I have encouraged people I'm close with to faith and help them understand it a little more. To note I have had some confrontations with this. I've had people call my beliefs stupid or illogical while talking with others about religion in public. It is important not to escalate with these people, be kind and willing to answer any questions people may ask you about Christianity. As for the people who will bully/persecute you for this, also be kind to them. Jesus taught us to pray for those who persecute you, so if someone ever insults you for your faith just ignore them and pray for them.

Public prayer/reading Bible in public
I steer away from the first one just because it is inconvenient. I can't truly focus on my prayer if there's people talking around me. On places like buses or in a classroom, I have prayed to Rosary or prayed mentally. One thing to be very certain of is that you're doing it genuinely just to pray, and not to show off your religiosity to people. Jesus said that this is what the Pharisees do, pray in public for attention. I'm not completely against public prayer but make sure you're not doing it to paint an image for other people.
As for reading the Bible in public, I do this all the time and have never had any issues with it whatsoever. I actually recommend you read your Bible in public when you're bored, but as with the prayer thing, make sure you're doing it for the right reason and not to bring you attention.

Another thing I like to do is pray the Rosary while on a walk or just outside in my yard. You'll probably always get looks for praying in public especially the Rosary so just be aware of that. I've never had someone confront me for it but I can't stand how being openly Christian is so frowned upon, I've never been seriously persecuted for it but a lot of people judge me for it. So my advice to any Christian reading this is don't let those people scare you away from ever doing anything publicly that would convey you being religious, and pray for anyone that does happen to persecute you in any way for it. Keep being open about your faith, I was terrified about my religion for the first few months and that's not what God wants for you.

I'm not saying you should go preach on the streets or anything, but don't be afraid of telling someone about what Jesus has done for your life, or talking about your faith publicly in general. It's definitely something that takes time to get comfortable with. As an introvert who's always had social anxiety, I was and still am terrified of social conflicts. However the Lord has helped me see the greater good in telling someone my testimony, or simply recommending a church to someone.

I hope you found this helpful!!! Please comment or DM me if you have any questions or requests for things that I should write about.