A good witness.

Have you ever stopped to think how people get their idea of Jesus? The frightening truth is that most of them get those ideas from people who claim to be disciples of Jesus! That is people like you and me!

Of course there are those who will immediately respond by saying that they are not evangelists! Neither am I! According to Paul, in his letter to the disciples of Jesus in 1^st century Ephesus, “… His [Jesus’] gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, …” (Eph.4:11-13). So being an “evangelist” is a specific gift of the risen Lord Jesus to the church at large.

However, that same risen Lord spoke to His disciples (and, by extension, to all future disciples) just before His ascension, and return to the Father. He said: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8).

Do you see the difference? Only some are gifted, by the Lord, to be evangelists. However, when the Lord Jesus spoke those words, he used the plural form of “you”. So, while only some disciples of Jesus are called to be evangelists, all of us are witnesses. How do we witness? By what we are! You and I are witnesses, whether we like it, or not. The only question is “What kind of witness am I?” Am I a good witness, by my life commending to others the One Whom I claim to serve? Or am I pushing more people away from Him than I ever draw to Him?

“Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today; He has no feet but our feet, to lead men in His way; He has no tongues but our tongues to tell men how He died; He has no help but our help To bring them to His side.

We are the only Bible the careless world will read; we are the sinner’s Gospel, we are the scoffer’s creed. We are the Lord’s last message, given in deed and word; what if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?

What if our hands are busy with work other than His? What if our feet are walking where sin’s allurement is? What if our tongues are speaking of things His lips would spurn? How can we hope to help Him, and hasten His return?” (Annie Johnson Flint; 1866-1932).