Hello everyone!
I hope you all are doing well! I wanted to take a moment to share some convictions that God has placed upon my heart these past couple of weeks and what God is teaching me in it.
Currently, I am reading a book titled Spirit-Led Evangelism by Che Ahn for one of my Christian courses.
In the last chapter I read, “Your Life is a Witness” (Chapter 4), I learned about how important our life is as a witness to Christ. We can evangelize to people all day, but if they don’t see the character of Christ within us, then our words mean nothing.
I’m reminded of numerous examples from the New Testament that support this, such as the book of Titus, which speaks to the Christians of Crete who were originally known as “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12). Paul gives them a different command in the entirety of Titus 2, in how they should behave uprightly. He says this not to control their behavior, but that they may serve as an example of the life changing power that comes from hearing the good news of Jesus Christ.
As I was reading Ahn’s book, she brought up a fascinating notion: “… we are witnesses either for or against Christ depending on our character” (Ahn, 48). Our character and life serve as a true witness to what we believe and if we practice what we preach. As Ahn reinforces this idea, “… how many non-Christian friends could I approach and say, ‘Jesus is like me, and find them wanting to be saved” (Ahn, 48).
These notions convicted me, as God has been pointing out to me repeatedly these past few weeks my selfish nature. Honestly, I never thought of myself as selfish, however, as the Spirit has pointed out on multiple occasions, l often do things for the purpose of seeking my own glory. When I don’t feel like l’ve been recognized in the way I think I should, I get upset.
Yet, God has made it clear to me: I’m not here to glorify myself, I’m here to bring glory to God’s name. Because of this, I need to check my own motivations. Am I doing things to elevate Christ and show Him off or to show off myself? Are my actions and attitudes witnessing to Christ or against Him?
And so with this, I want to challenge you as well: What does your life say about what you’re witnessing to? What does your attitude, character and actions say about what you believe in?
With Love,
Hunter Land
