Witness Power

This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light

(John 1:7-8 NKJV)

Every individual seeks to establish relevance and purpose in life.  The search sends us in all directions and at times, one ends up in a path that they were not prepared for.  As we go on this journey of seeking for our place, many tend to follow what others have done and were successful and so they pursue the same route with the hope of achieving the same success that the other person has. Unfortunately, it is also true that a copy is different from the original, the copy cat will never achieve the full success and benefits that the original experiences.  Can you relate with this?  When we copy, we do not know the intricacies that led to success and so we shall always be playing catch up. 

Our reference verse drew my curiosity as I looked at the life of John the Baptist, who had a role that no one else had or will ever have.  John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  In today’s world of position power, one might be tempted to look at John’s assignment as insignificant when compared with his cousin Jesus, but John understood that it was a position of honour, he had been chosen by God to be the one who announces His Son to the world.  That is a great position and to think that no one else had this purpose in the world, makes it all the more special.  John the Baptist though respected by others, knew his place and he played his role perfectly, he did not try to take the place of Jesus but instead told the crowd that he was not worthy to untie the sandals of He who was coming for He was mightier than himself (Luke 3:16).  John was content with his role and he delivered on it. 

Once Jesus had been introduced to the world by John, it would appear that John’s role was satisfied and he left the stage.  Jesus took up His place of letting the people know of the Kingdom of God, teaching His disciples and allowing them to practice His teachings.  The disciples were there as He performed the many miracles and they in turn became witnesses of His work.  It is no wonder that Peter and John when presented to the Sanhedrin declared that they could not help themselves from speaking of what they had seen and heard from their Master Jesus (Acts 4:20).  In this statement, they were saying that they had witnessed the life and power of Jesus and so were witnesses who could not hide what they had known.  Jesus Himself told His disciples that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  Beloved, this sounds like our purpose defined, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are called to be witnesses of the gospel of salvation and the Kingdom of God to the world where we live in.  God has equipped us by the power of the Holy Spirit to take on this role, so we move in power and confidence.  In whatever we do, the ultimate goal should and must be to bear witness to the saving grace of our Saviour.  Brethren, it is not an issue of copying others but it is critical that we know and accept who we are equipped to be.  How we express our witnessing might be different, at times it may look like what we are supposed to do is not as glamorous as others’ roles but this should not dissuade us from standing on our guard post as witnesses of Jesus. God has equipped us differently in line with our specific place of service, this is unique to each one of us so let us remember that we perform best when we operate in original space and there is no need to copy or envy others.  We are most impactful when we stand in and serve from in our unique equipping.  Unlike John the Baptist, we have seen many who have tried to take the place of other people, failing to give honour to whom honour is due (Romans 13:7), others trying to copy someone else but the results are never satisfactory.  Beloved, let us be content with who we are as witnesses of our Lord and when we take our authentic position as we should without competition, the beauty of our role becomes evident to all.  In this, we bring glory to God and serve the special purpose destined by Him.  Ours is to simply lift Jesus up by our witness in our spaces of influence.

Thoughts:

Where have you been positioned by God?

How authentic are you as a witness?

Is there something that could make your witnessing more impactful?  What is it? What will you do about it?