Can I Get a Witness?

Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Act 14:17 

The more I teach the more I understand how afraid the average Christian is today to be a witness for Jesus Christ.  God has gifted some of His people to be evangelists and Pastors so we are content to let these men and women be the ones to speak about and for the Lord. 

In Mark 5 Jesus healed a man who had been demon possessed.  The people of the region wanted Him to leave but the man who had been healed wanted to join Jesus.  In Mark 5:19  Jesus answered  the man.  The verse says, “And he did not permit him but said to him, ‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’”

As Jesus was speaking to that demon possessed man so He is speaking to His disciples of today.  Every believer is to be a witness and if we are believers we have something that we can tell others about Him. 

When we talk about witnessing we watch people shy away.  They divert their eyes and change the subject.  Witnessing  seems like a scary thing to do in our culture because Christians who want others to get into heaven are seen as fanatics.  The truth is that this is a loving thing to do.  What I would like to suggest is that we start small.

The definition of witness is “a personal testimony regarding the truth of something.”  The Compact Dictionary of Doctrinal Words says that evidence is vital to true witness.  One of the first testimonies I remember hearing was many years ago.  It was before I knew the Lord and we were out to dinner with two other couples and the women were chatting.  One of my friends said to another, “You should do a Bible Study.  It’ll change your life.  It totally changed mine.”  That was it for that night, someone changed the subject.  Today, the second friend and I have both come to know the Lord.  I have no idea how, or even if, God used that but I clearly remember it. 

That was a witness. 

Another woman that the Lord put in my life during our child birth classes was a Christian.  She could barely get a sentence out that she wasn’t “praising the Lord” for something or talking very matter of factly about Him.  He was a presence in her everyday events.  She thanked Him – out loud – when she understood instructions or before a meal at her house.  I thought she was a fanatic – but a really nice fanatic.  Her faith was amazing to me.  She trusted God in every situation and brought it up in every conversation.  He was a part of her life. 

That was a witness. 

Another woman helped me with a Girl Scout troop.  Once when my husband and I were having a hard time making a decision about something I was telling her about our dilemma.  She asked an interesting question, “Have you prayed about it? God will tell you if it’s the right thing to do.”  The suggestion was a revelation to me.  I hadn’t been taught to pray like that – about decisions.  I had only ever learned to pray for sick people and stuff I wanted. 

Her question was a witness. 

When we speak of the Lord and what He has done or a truth about Him that we know because we have seen it, experienced it, or been the recipient of it we have witnessed for Jesus Christ.  Every Christian has this kind of witness and with a voice we can tell someone – anyone – something about the Lord who saved us.

Lots of people are spending a lot of time in Bible Studies and on committees at their own church but they fail to witness.  It doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it.  We can even witness when someone takes the Lord’s name in vain by saying, “I just learned in my Bible Study that using His name that way offends God.  In fact the Bible says God won’t hold anyone guiltless who uses it that way.”  No judgment, just the words of the scripture.  We’re going to heaven because of God’s love, can’t we defend His name in public?

When we meet someone we like we are usually very happy to tell others all about them.  Why is it that when we love God, when He has given us the gift of salvation, we can’t find the words to tell someone else what He has done for us?  When we have witnessed the work of the Almighty – it just seems we should want to tell someone about it.  Witnessing for Christ does not require a seminary degree but it does require obedience.