Times have not changed that dramatically since Jesus walked the earth physically.  Even in today’s world there are those who don’t believe.  There are those whose tolerance for hearing the gospel story is very low or they have none at all.  There are others who simply wish we would stop talking about it altogether.  And yet it is the nature (or the requirement) of those of us who are faithful witnesses to sing aloud the praises of our Christ even when we are surrounded by those who have no patience for hearing it. And if we don’t tell the story we don’t have a witness — or at the very least — we become like Luigi Tarisio.

         Luigi Tarisio Was found dead one morning with scarce of comfort in his home, but with 246 exquisite violins, which he had been collecting all his life, crammed into an attic, the best in the bottom drawer of an old rickety bureau.  In his very devotion to the violin, he had robbed the world of all their music all the time he treasured them; others before him had done the same, so that when the greatest of his collection, a Stradivarius, was first played it had been silent for 147 years.  Yet, how many of Christ's people are like old Tarisio?  In our very love of the church, we fail to give the glad tidings to the world; in our zeal for the truth, we forget to publish it.  When shall we all learn that the good news needs not just to be cherished, but needs to be told? All people need to hear it.[1]

         Maybe, one day we’ll realize that the witness of the faithful is not dependent upon whether someone else believes what we know and believe to be the truth or not.  The witness of the faithful is totally dependent upon whether or not we’re convinced that what we know and have experienced from God is a story worth telling.  People need to hear it — or do we allow God’s truth and God’s faithful witness to us to die in the silence of the voices of those who know the story and can tell the story.  Or in our silence, will we be left with nothing more than the stones, crying out?

• When have you missed an opportunity to be a faithful witness to God’s faithfulness and later regretted it?
• How can we become better at being faithful witnesses by telling the story of our faith?
• What steps will you take to become a more faithful witness of Christ and his resurrection?

[1] Source Unknown, Illustrations Unlimited, James S. Hewett, Tyndale House Publishing

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving Christ, help me to overcome any fears and anxieties I have about becoming a more faithful witness of my faith in Your life, death, and resurrection.

         We sometimes ask for and seek empirical evidence that the stories people have told us are true.  Sometimes after telling someone the truth, their remark may well be, “I don’t believe you!”  For some people there aren’t enough words to convince, not enough witnesses to confirm, not enough empirical evidence to make yourself a faithful and believable witness.  And yet, in most cases, all we have is our witness.  All we have is our experience of what we know, what we experienced, what we felt, or saw, or heard.  And our words, experiences, are easily impeached by the other person’s doubt — not by their counter experience — but by nothing more than their refusal to believe.

         Being a faithful witness perhaps begins by telling the story of God’s faithfulness and truth — how Christ was revealed to us; when Christ was revealed to us; where Christ was revealed to us, and how his revealing changed our doubt to belief.  It’s not easy (nor might it be simple) trying to tell someone else something as unbelievable as the dead being resurrected and speaking with you, walking with you, embracing you in tender and intimate moments filled with love and understanding.  But that is the risen Christ we serve.  He’s not a God of anger, resentment, bitterness and spite.  He’s a God of understanding and love — a God who comes to bring peace to those who have doubts and those who don’t believe, offering them the opportunity to experience for themselves the reality of the risen Christ in a way that removes all doubts and fears.

• Have you ever experienced a time of doubting when Christ came to remove your doubts and fears?
• In what ways did your experience strengthen your faithful witness about the risen Christ?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Merciful Christ, let not my faithful witness about your resurrection be dissuaded by the doubts and fears of others. Enable my witness to remain a solid part of my faith.

         Witnessing is an important part of the human experience.  If there is someone who can verify who we are — identify us in some way or another, they become witnesses to our reality.  If they are able in some cases even to verify that we either were or weren’t present, they become witnesses to our presence or absence.  In some cases, there is something so unique about us, that people can identify and be witnesses for us by our voice, our walk, our laugh, or some other trait that sets us apart from anyone else.

         It would seem from our text that the same is true in the world of the spirits.  Apparently, who Jesus was and is, was not limited to those who walked with him.  He was also known to those who recognized his power and authority from within the realm of the spirits and wanted Jesus to have nothing to do with them.  It’s clear from their response that who Jesus is — “The Holy One of God” — and who they represented had totally different agendas to carry out, or at the very least were in awe of him.  But they recognized and knew who Jesus was and openly witnessed to his presence and authority.

         Those of us who have awakened in a new age, millennia following the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus have (in our own way) become his faithful witnesses to who he is, what he’s done, and his resurrection.  While we may not have seen him walking around the streets of Jerusalem or Galilee, we can acknowledge that he’s been a real and true presence in our lives in ways that are undeniable.  In his presence in our lives, we testify to his resurrection because he lives within us.  At times he’s even made an appearance in a spiritual way that was unmistakably the risen Christ.  When we share stories of his life in and among us, we acknowledge our part as faithful witnesses of his resurrection, if only by faith.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

• How does your recognition and acknowledgment of Jesus lead you to be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ and his resurrection?
• When have you personally recognized Jesus’s presence with you?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving Christ, enable me to recognize the presence of Your Spirit with me as a testimony and witness to others of Your resurrection.