Declaring our Faith

"With my mouth I will give thanks to the Lord;

I will praise him in the midst of the throng.

For he stands at the right hand of the needy one."

Ps. 109: 30-31

I have now been a believer in Jesus for about 27 years.  Man does time fly by quickly.  I have heard and seen much as I have walked with Jesus and worked with God's people.  One thing has remained consistent throughout these years.  Many, many believers are scared to death to witness about Jesus to their friends, family, and colleagues.

If I have heard it once, I have heard it a 1000 times,

"I do not feel comfortable telling people about my faith.  

I prefer to let my life witness for me."

Have you ever heard this excuse/reasoning?  Have you ever given it?  I am sure that all of us have at some point.  It has been making the rounds in Christian circles since the time of Jesus.  Let's take a fresh look at this common and at least tacitly accepted thought.

On the face of it, I completely agree.  If our life does not match our witness, then we are by definition a hypocrite.  Our life should be a witness.

Yet, to what are we witnessing?  

Let's look at two common assumptions about ourselves.  My life should reflect good Christian morality.  My life should reflect my relationship with Christ.

While I think these two statements should equate, I do not think they mean the same thing.  I believe that by making them the same, we have made witnessing about Jesus something to which almost no believer feels comfortable.

Why?

What about when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and I snap at my family, my co-worker, or myself?  What about the awful muttering that I do under my breath?  What about my struggles with my "hidden hangups and sins"?  How can I witness to truth when my life is not really right?

I believe almost all of us feel these tensions.  We know we do not have it all together.  We have so many struggles.  Witnessing must be for people who have their life together better than we do.  We think that when we get it together, we can witness.

Friends, this is not the way God designed it.

There is another problem with this living good morality equals witnessing of Jesus's saving grace.

What if I do live a life marked by good Christian morality?  (However I define it)  My guess is that my co-workers, family, and friends will think that I am a great guy.  They will think that I really have it all together.  They will think that I am dependable, solid, loving, ... you fill in the blank to what you think you should witness to.

Here's the rub.  Where is Jesus to these people to which I am witnessing?  They like me, but why would I assume they will make the connection that Jesus is the one who made me this way?  If I am honest, which I rarely am, I am witnessing more to my morality, my uprightness, my way of life.  

I also will have to labor hard to maintain my reputation.  I know my secrets.  I know my struggles with living my faith.  I think even if I think this is true, I am still in the same place as the rest of us hypocrites.  Lord have mercy.

What can be done about this?  To what should we witness?

How about cutting through the hypocrisy of witnessing to and through my great (or not so great) morality?

Instead, we undercut the charge of hypocrisy 

by confessing and telling how much we need Jesus 

and how much grace He gives us daily.  

What would happen if I merely confessed this truth?

Something wonderful happens when we bring up the name of Jesus.  When we confess our need for Him and how He is our only hope, the Holy Spirit shows up to confirm what we are saying.  I have also found that when I confess my weakness, people listen to me because they have the same issues and problems. Somehow the Holy Spirit works through the confession of Jesus as our only hope to bring Him all the glory.

In other words, without mentioning Jesus we are not really witnessing about Jesus.  I know that sounds harsh, but it is the truth.

May we repent of our fear and doubt.  May we repent of our self-righteousness and good deeds.  May we humbly declare that Jesus is our only hope and that in Him we find grace and mercy every day.