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Witness

By Ramon Mayo Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: Dani_vr @ Flickr (CC)

What does it mean to be a witness? What does it mean to be a witness for Jesus? Many have defined witnessing for Jesus as being bold and sharing your faith. It may mean having a fish bumper sticker on your car or taking a stand on a hot-button issue. If you listen to some Christians, witnessing sounds like a covert word for being obnoxious and pushy. It sounds like doing a lot of talking and arguing and not a lot of listening. For those who are beginners in the faith or outside the church, this doesn’t make sense. How can these things make you a witness for Jesus? How can you be a witness for Jesus if you haven’t seen him and you weren’t there when he walked the earth? What exactly is witnessing?

The word witness in the New Testament comes from a word used for those who would testify in court and place their lives on the line. They stood in court to testify and die for what they said. If they were found speaking falsely then, they were put to death. Jesus uses this word for the role the disciples would play after he ascended to heaven. In Acts 1:8, he says they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. They would speak truth about him even if it cost them their lives. And for all except one (the apostle John, who was thrown in a pot of boiling oil and exiled to a deserted island), it did. They were martyred in various ways on different continents for their faith in Christ.

From this we understand being a witness as telling the truth about what we have seen or experienced of Jesus. It’s about being true to who Jesus is and what he has done in our lives. It’s not something you do to another person. It’s more than just giving out some literature or putting a bumper sticker on your car or posting a scripture to your Facebook status. It’s not just about announcing to the world you are a Christian. Being a witness for Jesus is about your life, and that may include being vocal. It is about representing Jesus with integrity wherever you are, whether you’re in China or Chicago. To represent Christ is to imitate him and show his love to the world. It is when we become servants like he was. It could be something as simple as mowing your neighbor’s yard when they are bedridden and sick. You can represent him by being welcoming to the new person at work. The place doesn’t matter as much as the person. Some people can be poor witnesses. They speak a lot about Christ, but the way they do it is arrogant, and their lives are unChristlike. Maybe you’ve seen the guy on the college campus with the bullhorn calling people derogatory names and condemning them to hell. That is a poor witness. If you want to test out whether you are a poor witness or not, just think, “Would Christ be doing this if he were on the earth today?” If not, then you probably are being a poor witness.

So it’s more about who you are than what you say. It’s more of a noun than a verb. The action of witnessing flows from a person’s identity as a witness. That being said, it’s about your whole life and not just one moment. Those who follow Jesus are his witnesses 24/7 in everything they say and do. We are called to be witnesses in our work and our recreation. Witnessing means to love others the way Jesus would. It means to give extravagantly. It means to humble ourselves and serve the poor and downtrodden—not for our own altruistic motives, but because we are apprentices and followers of Jesus. In every area of life, our actions and speech must point to who Jesus is and what he has done.

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Filed Under: Grow, Jargon Tagged With: Issue 23

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Our striving to be like Jesus or do his work on ou Our striving to be like Jesus or do his work on our own is in vain. We can never hope to achieve the same level that Jesus was on while we are still here on Earth. We’re like little kids, struggling just to walk. But that’s why Jesus gave us an example of redeemed followers in the form of the Apostles, who were his close group of students here on Earth. He chose a group of broken, sinful men, and ultimately shaped them into the group responsible for continuing his ministry here on Earth. ⁠
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"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's th "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." –Desmond Tutu
The Bible tells us to live in the world, but not t The Bible tells us to live in the world, but not to become like it. The New Living Translation puts it this way, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Rom. 12:2a). Some have interpreted this as an instruction to reject anything that isn’t explicitly Christian. But I don’t think that’s what this verse is getting at. I think it means much more.⁠
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If you desire to serve, seek to form groups withou If you desire to serve, seek to form groups without age distinction. Maybe you want to form a group in your church. Avoid just inviting members from your age group. Seek out people older and younger than you to invite to meet together. Find that person who sits alone and talk to her or him. Instead of a focus on building groups that have the same characteristics to “relate” with one another, you center your discussion in the work of Christ. He will bring the group together. ⁠
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✍🏽: Russell Almand in "Community and Age Diversity" | Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
"If we put our faith in temporal things, they will "If we put our faith in temporal things, they will inevitably let us down. They were never meant to be enough for us. Not alone. When Barnum finally does hit bottom, he recognizes that his heart has been led astray, fooled into thinking that fame or fortune could satisfy him."⁠
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"Porn. We are only now beginning to realize the ex "Porn. We are only now beginning to realize the extent of its effects on the brain, relationships, and society at a time when sexually explicit content is just a click away. Christians have recognized pornography’s negative impact for decades, yet it is still often considered a “male” problem within the Church. This can leave women who struggle with porn addiction feeling isolated and alone. The organization SheRecovery (formerly Dirty Girls Ministries) aims to change that and has become a resource for women with porn addiction. You can read more about their ministry at the link in our bio. ⁠
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"The presence of my sin reminds me of my great nee "The presence of my sin reminds me of my great need for grace, and good works are the outpouring of a grateful heart; being a good child is not a means of earning the favor of God."⁠
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Often I picture Jesus telling us to love others an Often I picture Jesus telling us to love others and not to judge. I forget that when he said, “Come follow me,” he wasn’t just inviting us to a strict set of rules but to a real and exciting life whether you turn out to be a pastor, a doctor, designer or simply “Dad.” Sometimes I forget one of his main messages was that he came to give us a better life than we could ever dream of—life to the fullest. Jesus wasn’t locking us down to a vocation or job title. It’s as if he was saying, “Real, vibrant life is available to you now. Following me, loving me and living like me is your real calling…the rest is just there to aid you in following, loving and living.”⁠
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Like Morpheus, I want to “show you how deep the Like Morpheus, I want to “show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” There is yet another parallel between the Christian story and The Matrix, simultaneously the most foundational and the most captivating. It’s that something which is missing, something which is not quite right with the world. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know that it’s there. At the outset of the first film, Neo is searching for it. Trinity asserts that “it’s the question that drives us.” Morpheus claims that “you can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes.” The question is: What if I’ve only ever scratched the surface of all that life has to offer? What if there is a deeper, truer current of reality, ever-present behind all of my life’s experiences, to which I might awaken at any moment?⁠
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