One day shortly after the event of The Lesson of the Shattering, I was in my kitchen, busily working on routine household chores. In the midst of the mundane, God (by the inner voice of the Holy Spirit) clearly spoke the extraordinary to me, saying, “I have made you a witness.” Surprised and perplexed, I stopped what I was doing and questioned, “A witness?” The declaration, differing from my self-image, left me pondering.

While I, like others, wear many different labels in fulfilling various roles in family and community, the role of witness is not one in which I have ever readily pictured myself. In actuality, though, we all witness countless events every day, often without giving any of them a second thought. But being deemed “a witness,” specifically one in the Body of Christ, was and is quite different. The declaration brought the matter to the forefront of my thinking, right where God wanted it to be.

I remember a day when a Christian friend, referring to the gifts that have been placed within the Church (See 1 Corinthians 12:28), asked me what I believed my spiritual gift to be (not to suggest that God limits us to only one). With little thought, I quickly responded, “Teacher.”

Teaching had been my career prior to retiring, and, more recently, I had been given opportunities to lead small group Bible studies. Therefore, I was fairly comfortable wearing a teacher label. Yet, not having had any “formal training” regarding the Bible, I had remained apprehensive about leading Bible studies, especially during the first couple of years of doing so.

Then I heard a well-known Bible teacher say that she is not the least bit capable of teaching the Bible, but only of sharing whatever Truth has been shared with her. “Now sharing,” I thought, “is something that I can do.” So, in my mind, I became a “Sharer” of the Truth.

But since the completion of my first book, I have found myself also being referred to from time to time as a writer or an author, which causes me to squirm a bit. I am aware (as only I can be) that my only typed words worth reading are the ones that come, one way or another, from God. My writing experience is more of a very personal “listening and recording session” with God than anything else. So, in addition to having labeled myself a “Sharer” of God’s Word, I have also labeled myself a “Recorder.”

But as I stood that day in my kitchen, God’s words sparked a new train of thought (as revelation does), further expanding my understanding of my relationship with God. After contemplating the concept of “witnessing,” I came to conclude (with admitted relief) that being made a witness is a pretty straightforward and seemingly cushy assignment, dependent upon where and to whom one is witnessing.

Witnessing requires no special training or talent, only presence, observation and reporting. A witness is one who “just happens” to be at the right place, at the right time, as an event unfolds. Then, having recorded the experience through his or her senses, a witness retells the event to make the event known to others. “This,” I again thought, “I can do.”

Not until the writing of this lesson did the realization dawn on me (via the Holy Spirit pointing it out) that witnessing is exactly what I have been doing for quite some time, both recording and sharing the Truth. I had already become (been made by the grace of God) a witness, as God had said.

Witnessing is not a “gift,” per se, as we tend to think of “special gifting” for specific individuals. Rather, it is an outcome of our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Jesus stated flatly to His disciples, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8b). Witnessing was not then, nor is it today, optional. God makes all of His disciples witnesses of the Truth through their confessions (testimonies) of faith in Jesus. Each time that we “speak our testimony” in one format or another, the testimony is refreshed, carrying with it the power of Truth that continually transforms the world.

God’s declaration to me began with four important words:  “I have made you.” The words declare the totality of our creation by God, not only with respect to our existence, but also with respect to the shaping of our lives. Isaiah and Paul both proclaimed this truth, saying respectively, “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8) “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” (Romans 9:21)

God does indeed have the right to make of us whatever He chooses, using our lives for His glory. But to His greater glory, God gives us free reign over our decision making, including our witnessing. So, after molding our bodies from clay and breathing His life into us (See Genesis 2:7), He has freed us to choose to glorify either Him or ourselves by whom we choose to credit in life. In living out our personal testimonies, we are continually confronted by the Truth of God, giving us ongoing opportunities to expand our testimonies through our experiences with Him. In the process, we are made more thorough witnesses by our acquisition of greater Truth.

Saul (Paul) of Tarsus was a man dedicated in intention to the glory of God. But, having grown to wear the label of “a Jew’s Jew” (See Philippians 3), he was bound by rules and regulations that led him into self-righteous living, which included condemning those who followed Jesus. Attempting to live by the letter of the law, Saul defended with zeal the God of whom He had been instructed. He inflicted his judgment on others (See Acts 9:2), truly believing that he was living “right,” when he was far from it.

Then, on the Road to Damascus, Saul became Paul, meeting His God personally. Falling before his Lord, he succumbed to the Truth. (See Acts 9:4) Eternally changed, Paul acquired the gift of first-hand testimony, both of and from His—not another person’s—God. Then, refashioned by God through time spent with the Holy Spirit in God’s Word (See Galatians 1:15-18), Paul became a vessel from which the Truth of God constantly overflowed.

When Ananias, carrying his own testimony, was sent to Paul by God, he told Paul (under God’s direction) of God’s plan for him. ”The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.” (Acts 22:14, 15)

No longer coerced by men’s expectations, Paul went where the Spirit led him, compelled by his personal relationship with God. Allowing his life to be used by the One who had saved him, Paul witnessed to the Truth, as God enabled him. Becoming an instrument of God’s salvation plan, Paul carried the Good News to as many people as time and opportunity permitted him to reach. God made Paul a witness, giving Paul’s life eternal purpose.

Some two thousand years later, God continues revealing Himself to individuals in a multitude of ways, enabling all who receive the Truth to stand up as His witnesses. As God so declared me a witness, He has also so declared each and every disciple of Jesus Christ a witness. There is no difference.

While the manner in which we witness varies, we all witness to something. What we don’t say or do can speak just as loudly about our faith (or lack of it) as what we do say and do. Without the teaching of Jesus—the faithful witness (Revelation 1:5 & 3:14) —and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to direct us (John 16:13), our witness can remain weak (less than God’s design). With little personal knowledge and/or belief of God, our witness can fizzle, instead of sizzle, as God intends.

The Gospel of John (the first book of the Bible to which God directed my God-assigned readings–-see The Life of the Cross) emphasizes the necessity of testimony and its significance to our faith. In chapter one alone, John shares the testimonies of the following witnesses:  God, of John the Baptist; John the Baptist, of the Lamb of God (Jesus); God, of His Son (Jesus); Andrew and another disciple, of Jesus (the Messiah); Jesus, of Peter; Philip, of Jesus; Jesus, of Nathanael; and Nathanael, of Jesus (the Son of God and the King of Israel).

John’s Gospel (a testimony itself) is full of testimonies made of and by Jesus; of and by God the Father; and of and by the Holy Spirit, as well as the testimonies of men. After writing about the crucifixion, John declares, “The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.” (John 19:35) Then, following his account of the empty tomb and resurrection, John once again returns to the importance of testimony, stressing its purpose. (See John 20:30, 31)

Witnessing spreads Truth, diminishing the lies and deception that imprison us in wrong thinking, keeping us from coming closer to God. In the hearing of testimony, opportunity is granted for repentance—a change of thinking regarding God, ourselves and others. Testimony ignites greater faith, opening doors to new possibility thinking, changing our ways and futures.

Testimony is God’s creation. He provided the first, and He will also give the last, declaring the final Word about Himself in the manifested glory of Jesus Christ, who will be revealed for all to see. Jesus—the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of everything—is the Testimony of God to which we, as disciples of Christ Jesus, testify. When Jesus returns, our witness will no longer be needed, for all will witness the full glory of God for themselves.

Imagine how much we will have to talk about then! Chances are that, if we are not all talking at the same time, unable to get a word in edgewise, it will be due to having been struck speechless. Either way speaks to the importance of witnessing “now.”

If we have been given something to say (and we have been), then we had better say it before our time on the “witness stand” is up. “Now” is our God-given opportunity to speak not our piece, as the world expects, but God’s peace to the world, as God expects.  

And, by the way, that little nudge that we keep feeling to do so is just God’s way of saying, “Speak up, son. The world can’t hear you thinking.”

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Post Script (11/6/2015):  Though I questioned when first writing this piece the use of the word cushy in describing witnessing, knowing full well that witnessing can be uncomfortable at times and even dangerous, the word remained as it had been written.

Then today, in rereading the piece more than two years later, the question regarding the appropriateness of the word’s usage in this writing still confronted me. But for the first time, I was prompted today to look up the word’s meaning.

According to dictionary.com, cushy has two meanings. One is what I expected to find: “soft and comfortable; cushiony.” Indeed, this is not always necessarily so about witnessing. Sometimes witnessing requires us to leave our comfort zones in order to be a witness for the well-being of others.

But the word’s other meaning, the one that i had not anticipated, is always true of witnessing. Cushy means “involving little effort for ample reward; easy and profitable.”

Incomparable are the rewards in both this world and the next for simply speaking the grace and truth of God that are freely given to us in Christ Jesus. That is undeniable. Therefore, no question remains. Cushy is and always has been exactly the right word to tie to witnessing. We receive so much for so little…

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“Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ”  (Ephesians 4:15)

The event behind this lesson occurred in the continuation of the prayer that opens The Lesson of the Pain, the same prayer that revealed a need greater than the obvious one for which I originally had sought prayer. After questioning me about my relationship with my father, the pastor returned to his God-led prayer for me, as I stood before him with my eyes closed.

Absorbed by an awareness of the hands that were upon me in support of the prayer, I remember nothing about what was actually prayed, but only the prayer’s result. For as I stood with my eyes tightly closed, I was suddenly blinded by a light so bright that my body reeled backward and my eyes flung open in one quick, reflexive reaction. I was so stunned that I didn’t say a word. I had no idea what to say. I couldn’t even think.

In that tiny fraction of time, God altered my life far beyond my comprehension, changing me for eternity. For, in that moment, the grace of God illuminated His Being—His Existence and His Presence, drawing me to Him.

In the days and years to come, I would find myself immersed in the Word of God. By His direct intervention (See The Life of the Cross), I read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament three times in a period of seven months. His Word had become alive to me, and little, if any, did I understand that His Word was instilling life in me by the power that inhabits the Truth itself.

God revealed the connection between light and life in His first recorded spoken words of the Bible, which were spoken in creation. “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” After this we are told that “and then there was light.” (Genesis 1:3a&b) Young’s Literal Translation says, “‘Let light be,’ and light is.”

But there is more to this verse than what first meets the eye. According to a variety of concordances, the Hebrew word that translates here as “light” does not refer simply to physical light. The stars, sun and moon that provide natural light were indeed formed later, on creation’s fourth day (however one wishes to define “day”), as a part of God’s declaration that brought the physical universe into being.

But the complete meaning of the word “light” is much more than that. It means “illumination or luminary” in every sense. The word encompasses all intellectual and spiritual enlightenment,  as well as the sun, lightening, etc.

In God’s first words to us, we have the Gift of God Himself, given to every man, woman and child who would ever be:  the Gift of the Person of Jesus Christ, who is the Light of  the World (John 8:12) —the coming Messiah, the Source of all Radiance, the One who would deliver us out of the darkness of ignorance and into the knowledge of the Truth of God, the One who would light the Way Home by and with our Father’s love. God said everything that needed to be said in His first few words, providing for all that would yet be.

John substantiates the all-inclusiveness of the Bible’s first words, opening His Gospel with “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-3)

God and His Word are inseparable. They are One. To know One is to know the Other, and to disavow either is to disavow them both. Belief in God requires belief in His Living Word:  the resurrected Christ Jesus to whom the Bible points in glorification of God the Father.

The Bible (the God-directed recorded Word of God) makes known all Truth to everyone who receives (accepts, not just reads) it for what it is:  the Truth spoken for our benefit and God’s exaltation, delivering knowledge of God to all of mankind. In our openness to receive the Truth, to believe God, God activates His Word in us to glorify Himself. As He so chooses, His power flows through His Word in the presence of the Person of the Holy Spirit, who interjects the life of the Word into our very beings. Jesus said, “The words I have spoken are Spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63b)

They are indeed life. Without the Word of God (Jesus Christ), we have no life in us. (See John 6:53.) Unbeknownst to us, we are then “dead men,” walking in the darkness of ignorance, headed toward a variety of deaths.

But when we receive the Word of God, welcoming Its Truth into us, we also welcome the Spirit of God, who is present in His Word. Thereby, we receive more of God’s life that transforms our own, both now and for eternity. For every bit of Truth that enters us, beyond substantiating the Truth that is already in us, either fills a gap created by ignorance or replaces a lie (anything not true). Either can unknowingly lead to confusion, destruction and death in assorted ways.

The more alive we are made by Truth, the more alive we want to be. We can’t get enough of God’s Word. We can’t get enough life, for life breeds a desire for more of itself.

No wonder that, as we realize more of God’s life in us, we find ourselves declaring along with Jeremiah, “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.” (Jeremiah 15:16)

No greater joy exists than that of bearing the name of God in Christ Jesus. That is the Truth with which we are enlightened, causing the desires of this world to fade away in comparison. This is how born again Christians come to know—really know/experience—the joy of the Lord in the midst of trials. Nothing in this world can detract from the magnitude and permanency of the joy of the Lord that comes from personal experience with Him. (Distract temporarily, yes; but detract, never.)

Anytime that we find our joy being overshadowed by the cares of this world, we need only to return to God’s Word, allowing His Light to spotlight the Truth that lives within us. In doing so, His Light shines through us, making us beacons that draw others closer to Him, just as His Heart desires. Even in times of difficulty, we become luminaries, not by effort or self-will, but by submission to the Truth.

Jesus stated clearly, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:32)  All men… in all the earth… seeing the Truth of God, as Jesus shines down upon us… shining through our transparency to reveal more of the Father’s glory.

The “Light of the World” revealed the power of the Light that He carries, having said, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). There is no place that the Light will not go or cannot go to overcome the darkness that holds men’s hearts captive to sin. No sin is too great, no secret too hidden, to remain impervious to the Light’s Presence. The Light of the Truth of God’s love overwhelms every heart that it touches to replace condemnation with forgiveness and mercy.

Recently, I walked past two individuals who were engaged in conversation at the moment that one commented to the other, “…but people aren’t blinded by a light any more, as Paul was. Those kinds of things don’t happen these days.” My mind, as well as my ears, perked up as I continued to my destination.

Later, a revision of Romans 10:14 came to mind:  How can men expect to experience the truth that they have not believed? How can they believe the truth that they have not heard? And how can they hear the truth that has not been shared by those who are living it?

God can only pack so much of His infinite Self into our finite minds and lives, so He gives each of us a taste of Himself in this life with a promise of more to come. Therefore, many aspects of our faith must be accepted by just that:  faith in the Truth that we have not personally experienced ourselves. Following His resurrection, Jesus said to his disciples, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) We are to believe not only in the Person of Jesus and His resurrection, but in everything that He represents:  all He is, always has been and always will be.

Throughout the creation account in Genesis 1, we read the words, “God said,,,” followed shortly thereafter by the words “God saw…” repeated time and again. “God said… and God saw… God said… and God saw… God said… and God saw…” As God spoke, His Word came to be. The manifestation of His declaration became experiential in this world by the work of the Spirit. It always does, one way or another. For God is “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17b) …and they are.

God has no doubt regarding the finality of His Word, and we shouldn’t, either. The knowledge of God is destined indeed to cover the Earth as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

John, to whom God gave the vision of Revelation, spoke of the New Jerusalem to come, saying that “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb [Jesus Christ] is its lamp.” (Revelation 21:23, brackets mine)

The Light of God is Truth Eternal. It can never dim nor be extinguished. Whether we see the Light in this life as a blinding flash or as a flicker of hope, it is real. It is God revealed.

The manner in which the Light of God reaches us is not important, for God’s ways are beyond our ways. He knows best. Through the interconnection of our relationships that He develops, God spreads the Truth of Himself through the works that He has prepared for each of us to do. (See Ephesians 2:10) God both sends the Light and enables us to see it—to believe the Truth that the Light reveals. Our role is to look to the Light and not to close our eyes to it, ignoring the Truth.

But then again, my eyes actually were closed when the Light came to me, weren’t they?

And that didn’t stop the Truth from coming, did it?

In fact, God used the darkness to His advantage. He always does. After all, He is God:  Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent (All-Knowing, All-Powerful and All-Present).

As He has said, “light is”—“I Am.” (See Exodus 3:14.)

Coming from God’s mouth, He only needs to say so once. Any repetition is for our benefit, our ongoing education. Only He knows how much we still have to learn, how far we have yet to go… lightyears, no doubt.

But lit by the Radiance of His Glory, we’ll never mistake His Way for less than what it is:  the Source of all Light.

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“the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  (Matthew 4:16)