Being a witness is often misunderstood as something believers do for the sake of people who do not know Jesus. Instead, it is something believers are that is a benefit to the world at large.
When Jesus told His disciples to be His witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, He was telling them to go out into the land and be the shining light they are because they have been made new. Their lives are living testimonies, living witnesses, wherever they go.
We are Witnesses of How Good God is in our Lives
Christians are witnesses of who Jesus is now, not simply those who go around telling about what He did 2000 years ago. When we speak of the goodness of God in our lives and what He is doing in us we are being His witnesses. We are witnesses of who He is.
Many have argued that verbally sharing the Good News is seldom necessary if we are living as witnesses as our lives will speak the truth for us. The reality is that if we are living witnesses people will ask the reason for the hope that we have and then we can tell them all about who gave us this new life.
Be Spirit-led Christians
At the same time, we are to be Spirit-led. This means listening to the Lord and speaking when He speaks and remaining silent when He is not speaking. So there can never be a rule of not walking up to a stranger and telling them about Jesus because there could be times where Jesus is doing this. Other times He is healing a broken arm or mending a broken heart, or speaking words of hope and destiny over a person.
We need to be sensitive to His leading for we are witnesses of who He is by being who we are in Him. Acts 22:15 says, “you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.”
He changes us on the inside so much so that people see Him in us and are drawn to our witness. What we see in Him and hear from Him changes us so completely it creates a person who shines His image for others to see.
The amazing thing about being a witness is that we have personally witnessed that which we confess and live to be true. We are not repeating what we read to be true in an old book; we are in fact living what we have seen to be true in our own experience with the Risen Lord.
Too often, we have turned to witness, by telling of the “right” doctrines, rather than showing by who we are and how we love, the reality that we have something priceless for we have seen the Lord. The Lord is the Salvation Himself, it cannot be found in repeating the right words, but in experiencing the True source of Life Himself, Jesus Christ.
