Being a witness!

I have just been reading about a large law office in which someone was enjoying a birthday anniversary celebration. As the cake was brought into the room, everyone sang a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday.”

At the end of the song, the woman leading the celebration said, “Now, let’s sing the second verse,” and proceeded to lead everyone in “How old are you …” And everyone laughed when the woman whose birthday anniversary it was declined to reveal her age. Then the leader suggested singing the third verse and began to sing, “May God bless you.” Politely, a co-worker interrupted and objected: “I thought we’re not supposed to bring religion into the workplace,” he said.

The leader quickly responded, “Actually, religion comes in when I do!”

How simple, and yet how profound, was that answer! Regardless of how people may talk about the division between sacred and secular; religious and humanist; even the separation of church and state; the fact is that God can never be removed or legislated away - He is present everywhere, and He enters specifically through the lives of those who trust Him.

Have you ever thought of the countless discussions there are about how Christians can make a difference in the world, sharing the gospel and witnessing to their friends and neighbours. The truth is that the most effective witness is Christians - disciples of Jesus -, like that woman, living for the Christ wherever they are, and then gently and lovingly telling of their faith when the opportunity arises.  It's called "witnessing" and is what every disciple of Jesus is called to do!   

Remember Jesus' final words to His disciples as He returned to the Father?  "... you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."? (Acts 1:8).  That same Holy Spirit power is available to you and to me.  That same command is to us, also!

What about you and your office, store, factory, classroom, warehouse, restaurant -wherever you work? Does God come in when you do? Has God made a difference in your life that others can see? What do your co-workers know about God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, because of the way you live?

Regrets?

Tomorrow, DV, I will once again celebrate the day of my physical birth!  Okay, when I say "celebrate", I really mean "remember"!   No big party; no special meal; not even a cake!   Just my wee wife and me, here in the static, spending another evening together.

I've had quite a few of these birthday anniversaries and, as I look back over my life, I've had quite an interesting one.  Of course, as with (I would think) everyone else, I have a number of regrets.  There have been decisions made that I have wished I had not made; there have been choices made that I have wished I had not made; there have been things done that I wish that I had not done.

The other side of that is that there have been other decisions, choices, actions, that I have not regretted, and do not regret.  The most important of those was made just a few days before I celebrated my physical birth for the fifteenth time (Feb.9th, to be precise!).  That decision was to yield my life to the Lord Jesus, the Christ, and to seek to serve Him for all of the days that He would grant to me.   As I have, of course, often said, I doubt that I fully understood the import of that decision, at that time.  However, I can happily testify that I have no regrets about having made it.  I have often -all too often - let Him down; but He has never let me down.  I have found Him to be completely, and utterly, trustworthy; totally dependable; and the best Friend that anyone could ever have.

Another decision about which I have no regrets is the one that took place some ten years later when I asked a certain young girl if she would condescend to be my wife.  Thankfully, she made the decision to do so - and we are now in our forty-fifth year of marriage.   Yes, we have had our 'ups and downs'; but she has been a faithful, supportive, encouraging, loving wife - no man could ask for better.  I loved her then - or so I thought.  Actually, as the years have passed, I have discovered that I didn't really know what love was, all of those years ago.  I love her, now, far more than I would even have thought possible on that evening when I made my marriage proposal.

Nor have I regretted our decision to have a family.  We have two daughters of whom I am so very proud.  They are very different from one another, in many ways; but each is "the fruit of my loins", and is greatly loved by their dad.

I wonder, as you read this post, if you have ever taken time to look over the decisions that you have made - like myself, some that you will regret, and others that you will not.  It is, I would suggest, a salutary experience to take the time to do so.   When you do, I trust that you will be able, with me, to give thanks to Almighty God for His guiding hand upon your life.   My first excursion into tertiary Education was my attendance at the Bible Training Institute, in Glasgow.  The motto of the College was (in transliterated Greek!) "pistos ho Theos".  In translation, that means "God is faithful".  That is certainly my testimony; I trust that it is yours, also!