Apologetics Prepares You to Offer Jesus (Not Yourself) by: Kaitlyn Butts

Posted on by Heather Neumann

Kaitlyn Butts is one of Lasting Impact’s Apologetics’s Coaches. She is passionate about the speech category. But not just as a speech category, for life! Lasting Impact! continues to reach students all across the nation to help them gain skills that they will use for life. Speech and Debate is not just about the competition! Here is what the Lord put on Kaitlyn’s heart on WHY students should learn Apologetics…

If your experience is anything like mine, you’ve been embarrassed recently by someone who claimed to be a Christian. Someone on a television show completely misrepresented the Christian life. Somebody on your Facebook page spoke to or about their fellow believers in a way that made you cringe. Maybe you found yourselves angry with them for the damage you saw them doing to the name of Christ and the practices of Christianity. It seems as if every day we hear of individuals who twist who Jesus is and what He said.

I’ve been there, and I’ve been just as infuriated with ill-spoken messages from Christians. It’s tempting to think that if only a “real” Christian had been in those scenarios, the damage we perceive wouldn’t have been done. If only someone who genuinely studied and invested in their faith (or apologetics) had been interviewed for that show or written that article. Almost instantly, we can find ourselves proud of our own training and ability…

Apologetics should not be preparing you to offer your incredible accuracy, eloquence, and persuasion to the world. The truth of the Christian faith has never been dependent on how accurately, eloquently, or persuasively those who claim to be Christians represent it. If you’ve been competing in apologetics for some time, it is especially easy to stand in front of an audience focused more on the fact that your intelligence and smooth speaking could be the hope for the next generation, missing the preeminence of the hope that you’re really offering.

Apologetics is not preparing you to offer yourself. Apologetics is preparing you to offer Jesus.

Apologetics helps us become disciples of Jesus. Apologetic topics act as starting points and the season of preparation is a structured chance to closely observe the wisest and best man who has ever lived. We discover who He claimed to be and find those claims validated by His actions and character. We learn how He handled conflict and diffused tense situations. We solidify in our minds what He did and why He did it as we burn into our souls the purpose for His time on earth. And then, we enter our communities as disciples of Jesus who have internalized the gospel. The more we understand who Jesus is and become passionate about becoming like Him, the better prepared we will be to offer a winsome and powerful picture of Christianity to those around us, and the more we ourselves will fade in the background.

Studying apologetics should have us so excited for who Jesus is that we can’t help but speak about our faith. Replace your frustration with the failures of others with time at the feet of the one who will never fail. If you’ve never participated in apologetics before, I invite you to get involved this fall. Apologetics is not about preparing yourself to be the savior of rhetoric, sound theology, public opinion of Christians, or anything else. It is about faithfully and diligently equipping yourself to show everyone you meet that they already have a Savior, and that they too can have an intimate relationship with Him.

Sign up for Apologetics’s opportunities through Lasting Impact! Now is the time to take the plunge… learn and grow in His word!