A Witness for My Lord

Isaiah 43:10-13 You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,” and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.  Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”

One of the hardest tasks today for Christians is to be witnesses to the Lord God. Just before ascending to heaven, Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1 to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit. After a baptism of the Holy Spirit, they would become witnesses for Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Throughout Acts, we see the apostles Peter, John, and Paul and all his assistants take the gospel message to many places and to the Gentiles and Jews. I can remember the young white Bible college students in my hometown who taught me scriptures and, with a cloth stage and cloth people, made Jesus and the Father who sent Him real to me.

Today, neighborhood playgrounds like we had as children are practically gone, and children are seldom seen out of doors. People drive into their garages and do not come out and sit on porches to communicate with neighbors. Even before the pandemic, individuals did not allow strangers into their homes, which is more so today. With online shopping, there are few opportunities to witness at malls.

Yet, it is still the people of God who know Him best and who have experienced His mercy, grace, compassion, healing, all the results of His great love for us flawed human beings. We can testify that He will not forsake or abandon those who love and depend on Him. We believe in our hearts that He is from everlasting to everlasting and that there is one God, one faith, one baptism, and one Holy Spirit.

So, we must find twenty-first-century ways to witness, such as with blogs and podcasts. We must be creative and innovative through prayer and faith. We can create Zoom meetings for our churches to reach people unwilling or unable to leave their homes. Let us work to find the means to be witnesses for the Lord. Our nation and the world need God’s love to be spread from breast to breast in these divisive times, today more than ever.

Amen.