I am a Personal Witness for Christ
I was minding my own business at a baseball game when the Lord picked a fight.
It was a youth ministry activity, and as the youth pastor, I was moving around to talk with different students. A seat change suddenly put me two seats away from a rough looking character. I politely did a head tilt to acknowledge him and not be rude. Then, out of the blue, he said to me, “My girlfriend and I just got into an argument. You can see her across the outfield fence walking to the truck.”
And that’s when the Lord picked the fight. He said, “Ask him what they were fighting about.”
Now, I understand that baseball wasn’t around 2,000 years ago, so I figured I would inform the Lord about fan etiquette. I replied, “Lord, guys don’t talk about things like that at baseball games."
With a witty comeback, the Lord then referred to me by my ministry title: “Hey Youth and Family Ministries Pastor, ask him what they were arguing about!”
Again, I very graciously replied that He simply didn’t understand; that’s not something you talk about at baseball games. "No thank you,” I said to the Lord.
Even though this happened many, many years ago, it still makes me sad. My insecurities got in the way of obeying the Lord, and I missed the opportunity to serve a hurting man in Jesus’ name. In fact, I missed an opportunity to serve the Lord Himself!
In that moment, I was relying on myself and my own abilities. Maybe I feared rejection or looking stupid. What would I say after asking that first question? But that’s the problem… I was thinking more about me, myself and I and NOT about the man’s need or the Lord being at work in the situation.
Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life – a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, HCSB). And “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, HCSB).
Jesus’ mission was to call people to repentance and reconcile them to God. He accomplished his mission through his sacrificial death and resurrection. Then, on the day He ascended to the right hand of the Father (see Acts 1:9-11 and Acts 2:32-33), Jesus passed on to the Church the job of telling the lost about salvation available in Him.
He made it very explicit: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, HCSB)
Like in the instance I shared at the start of this devotional, there have been many times I missed the opportunity to bear witness to the goodness of God and later regretted it. These times have motivated me to be a more faithful witness and ambassador for Christ. But even more importantly, I’ve learned that I cannot be a witness in my own strength and wisdom. I desperately need the help of the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that “everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself, through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20, HCSB)
Our job is not to reconcile people to God; it’s to join Him in His work of reconciliation. Put simply, we share with others about who Jesus is and what He has done for us through our words and our actions.
Dear Saints, God has called you to be His personal witnesses. With the help and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we have the incredible opportunity to alter the eternal destination of our friends and family. Talk about significance!
Take it from me: If the Lord tells you to ask a stranger an uncomfortable question or to strike up a conversation with someone you’d rather avoid, I’d take Him up on it. You will never regret it!