Witness to the Truth

Witness to the Truth


Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. John 18:37 KJV

When I say that I am a Christian, I admit that in the back of my mind there is a preconceived definition at work. You probably have your own idea as to what the word “Christian” means. For many people "Christian" means that one should be good, be kind and generous, which sounds to me like nothing more than good manners. But when I take a peek at Christ from the perspective of scripture, I am forced to see that Jesus ignored social etiquette in order to proclaim the truth. When I think about it, Jesus may not even live up to ‘our’ idea of Christianity… Based on our modern social standards, his manners were reasonably atrocious. He was often incredibly disrespectful of the religious leaders of his time. And, the friends he kept (sinners and prostitutes) would probably never get through the doors of some of today's churches. But in spite of these things, Jesus always proclaimed the truth of his Father.

I think a real and complete declaration of Christ is in a balance of word, thought and deed, not one or the other. And that has nothing to do with being politically correct or following the unwritten rules of respectability. I think that the only way to fully represent Christ and be a witness of the truth is to be consumed with the Gospel (John 2:17), that is, being consumed by God Himself. Then, the words, thoughts and deeds that pour out of us will be befitting of the Jesus we claim.

But truthfully, we believers can not be identified by decorum or appearance; we are believers because we hear and respond in obedience to the voice of Christ. If we speak and live what we hear from the Lord, then maybe that is what makes us His?