Think of the last time you couldn’t wait to tell someone some great news. Maybe you just got the job you were hoping for. Or your daughter-in-law is expecting. Or maybe your favorite team finally reached the playoffs. You just had to talk about it, right?
We tell others things that matter to us, don’t we? Anything from the simple to the profound. I discovered a wonderful new restaurant! My husband lost 50 pounds! The company is going public! My grandson is getting married! My wife is in remission!
You know what? That’s “testifying.”
“To testify” means to give evidence as a witness to facts. Christians often stumble when it comes to “witnessing to Christ.” Some of us are afraid to tell people about our faith in Christ. Some of us even wonder, do we really have to tell others about Christ?
We believe the lie that if we share how Christ has impacted our lives, people will get angry or reject us or worse. True, that may occasionally happen. But the truth is, people are hungry to know God.
Another lie: That we have to be experts at theology and apologetics to persuade our listeners toward Christ. We think if we mess up, we might be embarrassed and at the worst, we might ruin someone’s chance to be saved.
But the power is not in the messenger. It’s in the message. And Jesus is the message. Remember, Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Remember, also, that the Holy Spirit is always there to help us. “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13).
Jesus, on the night before He is going to be crucified, prepares His disciples for what was going to come. He promises that He will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to them — and to us —to testify about Jesus Christ. “And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27).
Jesus doesn’t instruct this team of mostly uneducated guys to start a religion. He tells them to be witnesses to what they had experienced as His disciples. What’s the result? God uses their radical lives and testimonies to grow His church into what today is around 2 billion followers across the globe!
Think about it: Aren’t you glad someone courageously communicated —testified — about Jesus to you?
There are hundreds of opportunities around you right now to do the same. If people don’t hear of Christ’s love for them from you or me, they may not ever hear! God is working behind the scenes. He does powerful things when we step out and trust Him.
You don’t have to have it together. The disciples didn’t have it together. It’s time to have faith, be courageous, and testify!
To find out more about sharing your faith, check out the series Jesus Unfiltered: Testify.
Written By
Chip Ingram
Founder & Teaching Pastor, Living on the Edge
Chip Ingram is the CEO and teaching pastor of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry. A pastor for over thirty years, Chip has a unique ability to communicate truth and challenge people to live out their faith. He is the author of many books, including The Real God, Culture Shock and The Real Heaven. Chip and his wife, Theresa, have four grown children and twelve grandchildren and live in California.
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