Coffee Cup Memos

“What do I say when someone asks me to prove that God exists?” A friend of mine asked me this after a buddy challenged him to defend his faith.

I told him that it isn’t our job to convince someone to believe. A person’s spiritual journey is ultimately between them and God. God exists whether anyone chooses to believe in Him or not. As Paul writes, “His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20).

Our role isn’t to play judge or defense attorney; it is to point people to Jesus and share what He has done in our lives. That is what it means to give a testimony—an eyewitness account of how our relationship with Him has grown, how He shapes our character, and how He meets our daily needs.

We don’t need to get dragged into heated debates, especially if we aren’t wired for quick counterarguments. High-pressure debates rarely soften hearts; often, they just push people deeper into defensive corners. As messengers, our job is simple: share what the gospel is and why it matters. We cannot generate faith in someone; we can only inspire it. Paul reminds us: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6–7).

Knowing that God causes the growth frees us from carrying a burden we were never meant to bear. We just need to be faithful witnesses—telling Jesus’s story and explaining why we anchor our hope in Him. For all you know, God might line up 15 different people to cross that friend’s path, and you are simply messenger number 4 or 5. Because “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), participating in that process is a privilege, not a pressure test.

When speaking with someone who is curious, we can simply ask gentle, inviting questions: “God loves you deeply—have you ever considered getting to know Him? Did you know He wants a relationship with you?”

When we genuinely love people, we won’t shy away from encouraging them to seek Jesus and see what happens next. If they are sincere and open, God will transform their hearts in His timing. Our part is simply to stay available, answer what we can, offer encouragement, and cover them in prayer.