You are driving down the highway when an automobile approaching at high speed ignores the stop sign and slams into the automobile directly behind you. You were certain your time had come, but it narrowly missed you. The guy behind you wasn’t so lucky. Nobody is hurt but his car is another story. You pull over to the curb and get out.
The fellow who ran the stop sign is drunk, so you are all the more interested in seeing that justice is done. You give your name and address to the police officer and agree to be a witness when the case comes up. Finally, you are in court, you sit down on the witness chair.
The judge asks you what you saw and you say, “I’d like to share with you dear friends my views on the gold standard and how it affects our economy today.” You may be the world’s leading authority on the gold standard, but the judge only wants to know one thing - what did you see? That’s it-no fills, no conjectures, no theories - just what happened.
That is what being a witness is all about. Shortly before Jesus ascended to heaven, Jesus told His followers, “You shall be my witnesses….” A witness does not give his or her opinion - he or she tells what happened. He or she does not have to convince, twist arms nor persuade a person’s will. He or she gives the facts candidly and honestly.
The Greek word for witness, Martus, came from the same word that gave us our English word “martyr,” meaning someone who dies for his or her beliefs. Early Christians were so committed to what they had seen and heard, they died for it.
The world is not looking for your ideas or opinions; it is searching for reality - the truth of a Man who was alive but was crucified, dead and buried, and then the third day He rose again from the tomb and is alive today.
As someone once put it, a successful witness or should I say, a genuine and true witness is one who shares Christ in the Power of the Holy Spirit and leaves the results to God.
Pastor Gideon