Can We Get a Witness?

Can I Get a Witness? Colossians 4:2-6, 1 Peter 3:13-16 Before I speak, I pray, and it goes something like this: “Dear Lord, help me if I grumble, stumble or bumble, most of all, keep me humble.” I remind myself and those around me I am a “speaker” and not a “preacher,” by any means. There is certainly a huge difference between the two and rightfully so!! But wait, hang on. Could it be we were ALL called to ministry? To preach as a preacher and the like? At least to some degree, perhaps. The answer may shock some. Yes! Yes, we are most definitely called to ministry. Each and every one. God’s Word says so. Acts 1:8 tell us this: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Matthew 28 reveals to us this: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” We are encouraged all throughout the Bible to witness to others. So just how, when and where does one “witness”? What does it even mean? Dictionaries define the word witness as this: “to see an event take place or to give sworn testimony.” Another dictionary defines as simply “evidence or proof.” As a verb, witness is defined as “to have knowledge of an event from personal observation or experience.” To me, this is a wonderful definition, “personal observation or experience.” I can think of no better way to relate to another person than sharing our own personal trials, triumphs and experiences. Doing so instantly makes others want to listen to us! It connects us. We sense a feeling of belonging and not being so alone all of a sudden. Others suddenly become interested in what we have to say when the shared experience is one of a personal nature. Christians share a bond, do they not? A connection. Unity. What is the common thread? Why! We know it to be Jesus! We share the love of the Trinity. We recognize the sacrifice made for us solely out of love. We see the light and joy in the eyes, hearts and actions of others. Being around other Christians can be contagious! We want to share the love and joy of Jesus. Are we doing enough though? Can we honestly say we are “witnesses to the ends of the earth?” Are we just scooting by and doing the bare minimum? Satan loves to tell us “someone else will do it,” or that we’ve done enough witnessing in our time and it’s time for others to step up. Really? Why would we even think such nonsense? As if there is an age cutoff for witnessing to others. We think this way because the world sometimes leaves us feeling rejected, mocked and ridiculed when we share the Good News. Jesus and the disciples faced the same worldly opinion. Guess what, though? It didn’t stop them. They kept on sharing all they had heard and witnessed in their years with Jesus. Ponder this for a moment. The Bible is a book on witnessing. What others saw, heard and shared. What if … just what if … those who witnessed Jesus feed 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish never shared this? What about other stories from the Bible, to just mention a few? The woman at the well running into town to proclaim her visit with Jesus in John 4. The miracles Jesus performed … healing of lepers. The blind could see and the mute could speak. Casting out evil spirits. The lame could walk again. Water into wine. Let us not forget the resurrection!! Mary, being the first to realize Jesus was gone and being told by the angel to go quickly and tell His disciples “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.” What, if out of fright or disbelief, she just kept it all to herself? And what about the transfiguration and ascension of Jesus? And 1 Corinthians tells us that Paul gives an account or list of people to whom the risen Christ appeared. This included the apostle Peter, James the brother of Jesus, but also 500 other people at the same time! Now, it would not be absurd to think that some of them MUST have gone home that night and told the family over dinner what they had witnessed that day! They “witnessed” what they “witnessed”! Same word. Same sentence. A verb and a noun ! A person, place or thing and “action” at the same time! Think about for a moment, the Book of Revelation. What if John, who was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos due to being a Christian, never wrote down what he heard and saw? Sadly, we would not have a glimpse of Heaven had he not documented. Revelation tells us that John was told to write down all he was about to witness and hear about the things that must take place in the future. What if John just dismissed all of it! What if he disobeyed or thought he had just had been dreaming? We would have no Book of Revelation! You see, if nobody witnessed in the Bible, we would have no guide for eternity. We would be in the dark and lost just stumbling around listening to the world. As Christians, we know the Bible is a book of witnessing. Some may question or argue that the Bible is missing books. Missing accounts of perhaps what else was said or done back in the day. Were books forgotten? My thought is this: If God loved us so much to prepare this instruction manual for us, why would He leave out anything pertinent or truly important? Why would He skip chapters and books? He didn’t. That’s why. God knows what He wanted in His book and why. That should be enough. I want to share a story. A true story. A woman stopped at a grocery store on her way home from work one rainy evening. She was in a rough spot. Tough day at work. Not feeling well. In fact, she was feeling run down, dejected and defeated. She had been praying fervently (begging, really) for God to heal a loved one. No healing was happening (that she could sense anyway). She felt God was not listening or, worse yet, that He had forgotten about the things important to her. Suddenly, she felt a touch on her arm. “Could I pray for you?” asked a woman approaching her. The startled woman quickly wiped a tear ready to fall and stammered with a soft “of course, you can” as she glanced around at a few that heard and were watching. The woman’s prayer was heartfelt, moving, and deliberate as she asked God to bring peace, healing and comfort on the stranger whose hand she was now holding. When finished, the two women locked eyes. Both felt the connection. The bond. The love. One smiled through tears of gratitude, and the other smiled and basked in the warm afterglow of the Holy Spirit moving through her heart, hands and lips. They parted and although in a small grocery store, their paths never did cross again in any aisle. I was one of these two women. You see, I entered the store feeling lost and forgotten. My request to God was not immediately granted but through the eyes of this stranger who prayed with me, I knew God was working on things for the greater good. I no longer felt alone. I learned something that day. The Holy Spirit can and will work in anyone. Anywhere. Any situation to continue to spread the light and love of Jesus. Boy, have I missed many opportunities to witness. One instance involving my father that haunts me to this day. I let it slide through my fingers, telling myself the “timing wasn’t right” and worse yet … “I will do it tomorrow.” Sadly, tomorrow never came. I blew it this week also. I hit a fast food drive-through to get a drink on my way home from work. The young girl rudely slammed my change into my hand, tossed my drink at me, and slammed her little window shut. Her face showed signs of discontentment, anger and dismissiveness. The Holy Spirit nudged me a bit, whispering, “Go back and order something else, and this time smile at her and tell her things will get better and that God loves her.” As Satan does, I heard him whisper, “You are already merging into traffic and you really need to get home before dark to walk the dogs, get dinner done, and do laundry.” I thought about this later and realized I could have at least said a prayer for her while driving. Something else hit me. Perhaps my interpretation of her facial expression was misled? What if, instead, she was feeling forgotten, alone and dejected? Like I was in the grocery store. We were made to minister. It is ridiculous to think that God created us and placed us here to do nothing other than soak up His resources. With no purpose or intent. Just hanging around waiting on eternity. This couldn’t be further from the truth!! We must never tell ourselves “we’ve done enough. It’s someone else’s turn.” There is always work to do! We were equipped for this very thing. Talents. Each unique to enable us to witness. One does not need to stand at a pulpit and deliver a message. No! In addition to writing and speaking, one can minister through music. Time. Prayer. Teaching. Reading. The list is endless! Do you have time to write a note or card? Make a call? Deliver some cookies to the nursing home? Drop off some puzzles or magazines with a Bible verse? Invite someone to church? I mean we could go on and on. I challenge each one of us to work harder. We simply cannot say “tomorrow will be a better day.” Do it today! However you choose to minister, know the Holy Spirit will guide you. You will know what to do and/or say. Remember to do it respectfully, as Jesus would. Cramming and force feeding the Good News will get us nowhere. We must also walk the walk and talk the talk. Simply meaning, others will not want to put on the Christian clothes if we are walking around as lazy, disinterested, disheartened Christians. Be assured nobody will want to listen! Don’t worry about the world labeling us as “Bible thumpers” or “ fanatics.” Instead of being a “fanatic,” be “ecstatic” in sharing the life, ministry and love of our Lord Jesus. There is much work to be done and we are called to do it. Still unsure? I’d like to share this quote from one of my favorite evangelists, Dr. David Jeremiah. “If you have a heart for Jesus, then you have a heart for ministry.” Amen. janet