I remind people from the pulpit on a weekly or semi-weekly basis that if they are Christians then they are God’s witnesses. They have been saved to now witness to the reality of the Gospel. As Luke writes and Jesus says in Acts 1.8 “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.”
In saying that though and quoting Scripture that says the same, I do realize that the idea of being a witness can seem overwhelming. I can picture people’s minds racing with questions as mine has often done, “Do I have to stand in a pulpit? Do I have to speak in public? Do I have to prepare sermons? What if I don’t know what to say? What if I say the wrong thing? Where do I even begin?”
If this is you at all then let me try to put your mind at ease by attempting to describe the act of witnessing in a very simple way. Maybe you will realize in this that being a witness to Christ is less intimidating and complicated than it sounds.
We all know how to point at stuff. My son learned to point before he could walk. Well witnessing is just pointing. Pointing away from yourself and to the thing you are bearing witness about. Jesus calling Christians to be witnesses is Him simply calling them point; to be signposts; to be arrows that point to back to Him. And the first way we point is by living like Him. We live lives that imitate Jesus. We live in such a way that people see can something different in us. We live lives that people are curious about, lives that as Peter says, make them ask “for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3.15).
The second way we point is the response we give when they ask for a reason because they have seen this different reality in our lives. At this point we must use words, but this too does not have to be so intimidating. It’s still just pointing. You know the beautiful thing about witnessing to Jesus is that the gospel writers have already done the hard work of telling His story. The words that we speak then are just to try and point people back to the gospels, to the Words and the Word of God. Of course, we have to be able people to tell the story of Jesus and explain the gospel enough to point to it. But it’s the Words of Scripture that are inspired, that stir that affections, and that ultimately lead to salvation.
At the end of the day witnessing is just pointing. I don’t say that to belittle the job of a witness or to be careless about the role, but just to simplify it. Anyone who loves something will inevitably be able to point to that something in word and deed, and honestly it will probably come quite naturally. Perhaps the key then to being a good witness is just loving Jesus and seeking to love Him more than we do.