A Witness

September 2008

The young man raised his right hand and swore that all that he would tell would be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  He had been on the corner of Main and Fifth Street when the white van ran the red light and hit the blue sedan broadside.  He had seen and heard it all, from very close range.  Now he found himself in the courtroom to do all that was expected of a witness.

The prosecuting attorney, with permission from the judge, approached the bench, along with the defense attorney, and asked for a recess.  His reasoning was because the witness had not yet been trained.  Surprisingly, the defense attorney raised no objection as the judge declared a two-hour recess for the purpose of witness training.

Bewildered by it all, the young man accompanied the attorney to a small room where he was to receive the training to prepare him to bear a proper witness.  It didn’t make sense to him.  He knew what he had seen and heard.  The experience was his, and he knew more about it than anyone.  Why would he need training to tell his story?

Does this sound bizarre?  Of course it does, when we consider it in light of a modern courtroom scene.  If a lawyer made such a request, the judge, after he quit laughing, would probably want to check the credentials of the lawyer to make sure they were legitimate and up-to-date. I wonder, however, if there is not a parallel activity that characterizes what we do in motivating and mobilizing believers to share their witness with others.  We hold “Witnessing Training” and “Witnessing Clinics” and invest hours in “training” people to tell their story.

When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he immediately becomes the world’s leading expert on that personal experience.  Nobody knows more about it than him.  When a person has a life-changing experience that affects the totality of his life, the natural thing to do is to talk about it.  He does not need to be trained; he just needs to share it.

What has happened to us?  Why won’t Christ’s disciples give a witness?  I am sure that the reasons are many and varied.  I have heard all the reasons and, at times, have used many of them as excuses as to why I haven’t told someone about my life-changing encounter with Christ.  I believe that the root cause of our reluctance to share our testimony with others is that our relationship with Christ does not have prominence in our lives, and certainly does not have the preeminence that Lordship infers.  David experienced this in his relationship with God, and he cried out “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you” (Psalm 51:12-13 NIV).  The bottom line: We talk about what’s important to us!

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