Be Witnesses for Christ

Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

-John 4:35

Consider the question of why do we witness for Christ? And along with that is, why are we to be witnesses for Christ? The answer lies first and foremost in the fact that our Lord has commanded us to reach others for His kingdom. When Jesus told us to go and make disciples that was not a suggestion, but rather it was a divine commandment. We are not to keep the good news of the Gospel all to ourselves. Have you ever been in a situation where you knew something, but you also knew that you should not tell anyone? How long were you able to keep it a secret? How long could you keep it to yourself? Shouldn’t we as followers of Christ be known as people who can be trusted? Let’s make sure that when someone confides in us that we do indeed keep it where it’s supposed to be – in our hearts. I fear that people assume that pastors go home and tell their wives everything, and I think that many do just that. But what a pastor must understand is what he is told in confidence by someone to whom he is ministering is as sacred as a priest’s confessional. I hope people don’t think I go home and tell my wife everything they tell me because I can say with a clear conscience that I do not.

Here is why I say all of this; why do we have a hard time keeping to ourselves what we shouldn’t tell, but we have an even harder time telling what we should tell? Does that make sense? We should not gossip, but it’s so easy to do. We should tell others about Jesus, but that’s more difficult.

We are called to witness for Christ out of a sincere concern for people who do not know Jesus as Savior. In faithfulness to Christ’s commission to us, let us go and share the Good News of God’s love to a lost and hurting world.